The Butterfly Effect
by Yezzixa
Summary: Evelyn Dahl, an electric mutant, killed 67 people in a train station. No one knows why, and she won't talk. But when she starts seeing another woman inside her isolation cell, someone who can save her from her own mind, she starts talking...
1. Prologue

**Hi there... I know it's been like, ages, but I was really unhappy with some parts of this story and so, I decided to rewrite and I couldn't publish again until I was up to pace with what I've got.  
So, I've got nine finished chapters but I'm not going to publish them all at once because if I publish slowly, I'll have time to perhaps write the next chapter or even more before I get stressed out again...  
And if you haven't read the old story, no worries, everything is in here.  
Um...  
Yeah.  
Read.**

-------------------------

The girl sat alone on the bench. None of the people working in the train station really knew how long she had been sitting there. Occasionally, she would glance toward the large clock above the entrance.

A hood on her coat covered the girl's face. The coat was tight, revealing a small figure with barely any curves. The reason people assumed it was a girl was because of the long, curly hair and slightly curved line of the tight, black coat material.

The locks of hair were blue, and there was no other movements than the occasional gloved hand raising up to brush the locks back. So, except for the glance toward the clock and the brushing back of locks, the girl didn't move.

According to surveillance cameras checked a few days later, the girl had been seated there when the first train arrived at four thirty-three in the morning. Eleven hours later, the cameras said she was still there. Around that time, the guards discussed asking her to leave, but she wasn't disturbing anyone. She was just sitting there.

Another three hours passed and the girl was still sitting there, almost completely still. One of the guards decided to talk to her. He was young, in his early twenties, and new to the job. He was also a very nice boy, without any history of violence or trouble of any sort, according to the police rapport.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" he asked, trying to sound polite. The girl didn't look up when he spoke to her. "Ma'am? Are you alright?"

"What time is it?" she asked, her voice sounding small and fragile, as though someone had clumsily taped together a broken vase and transformed it into a voice. The young guard couldn't help but feel for her, since she sounded almost lost and empty.

"It's, er, six forty-six. Ma'am, are you waiting for someone? We could check the registers and see when they are coming, if you would like?"

The girl ignored his comment. "It's time." She said with a sigh, her voice now changed and deep and sorrowful. She stood up and advanced on the young guard, as he kept on backing, until he was pushed up against a wall.

She reached one gloved hand up to her face, pushing back the hood, revealing dark, blue locks falling freely around her pale, blue face. Her eyes shone an electrical, blinding blue. She peeled off her gloves, blue lips bearing a sad smile.

"You're… You're a m-mutant!" the guard said, sounding frightened.

"I'm sorry," she whispered as she reached up her hand to the guard's cheek. A second later, he was lying on the floor, electrocuted.

Screams erupted as people saw the glowing mutant girl and dead guard. The girl reached up her hands to touch a metal bar on the wall. A moment later the whole room was filled with static current, visible in the air, and the crackling noise was nearly unbearable. The static was strong enough to electrocute every person in there.

'Yes,' she thought as she stepped over the dead bodies, covering her glowing hands with the gloves and her blue face with the hood. 'I am sorry.'

---------------------------------

"In here you go, miss Vandom. They should be here soon."

"Thank you."

Laura sat down in the chair, placed in front of a table, with a glass window in the middle. On the other side was another chair, stuck to the ground and with straps on the handles. She placed her briefcase on the table, taking out a number of documents, a pencil, a tape recorder and some blank papers. Placing the neatly in order on the table, she sat down and glanced at a document.

The mutant in question had been found only hours after the murder, sitting on a bench not far from the station, as though wanting to be found. She had made no attempt to resist being arrested, but followed calmly and in silence. She hadn't said much at all, just her name, age, just the basic things the officers would have asked.

Laura glanced at the time on her cell phone; the tiny digital numbers read 11:15. They were late, although with such a dangerous person as this girl was assumed to be, it was understandable. Laura had no other cases on her hands, her boss had made sure of that.

11:17 the door on the other side of the glass opened. Four guards entered with a tiny figure, the figure wearing a strait jacket specially designed with rubber insulation. The guards seemed afraid of the small creature, although by looking at her Laura couldn't understand why.

The young woman looked more like a girl, as the guards strapped her in. Unruly, bluish black curls were not brushed around a soft-featured, round face, the skin was a pale shade of blue, the lips a purple-blue color, the brilliant eyes an electric blue. The eyes told a tale of lost happiness and bore the memory of a spark, but no more.

As the guards backed away slightly after having strapped the girl down, she suddenly looked up straight at Laura. She tilted her head slightly to the right, smiled, and opened her mouth to say something. Then she closed her mouth, shaking her head in mirth, and smiled kindly. She nodded, as though making a gesture for Laura to begin.

"Hello. I hope you don't mind that I record?" Laura said, her voice shaking slightly at first but then regaining its strength.

The mutant shook her head and smiled in approval. Suddenly, Laura felt very young, even though she knew the mutant was many years younger than her. She pressed the button on the tape recorder, pushing away the blush that threatened to form on her cheeks.

"Would you please state your name?" Laura asked, looking at the mutant.

"Evelyn Charlotte Dahl."

Laura was amazed by the girl's calm appearance. She didn't seem plagued by the guilt that should have tormented her. She glanced over at the papers again, 67 victims. Young, old, children even, everyone who had been at the train station had died a rather painful death.

"Interview with Evelyn C. Dahl, twenty-first of July." Laura stated for the tape recorder. She cleared her throat.

"I'm Laura Vandom, I'm your appointed defender. I need you to tell me a few things."

"A lawyer?" Evelyn's lips formed a half-smile, and she shook her head. "I didn't ask for a lawyer."

"Well, here I am. And I am going to do my best to help you. But first, I need to know everything."

"Ask away," Evelyn said with the air of confidence again. Laura was thirty-three and this girl much, much younger.

"When were you born?"

"The thirty-first pf January, nineteen ninety-four. I am twenty-three years old."

Laura nodded and studied the girl's facial expression. It was calm, but there was sadness behind those blue eyes. She glanced at her papers, shuffling them a bit. "It says here," she pulled out another sheet and quickly skimmed it through, "That you have made no official statement regarding your guilt?"

The girl shrugged. "The surveillance cameras should tell the story clear enough."

"So you say you did kill them..?"

"Putting words into my mouth, miss Vandom."

"So you're claiming innocence?"

"Never said that either," Evelyn said with a patient smile. Laura pushed back a sigh; had she really expected the mutant to cooperate?

"All right then. You know, if we're going to get you off on this, you have to help me a bit. I can't do my job unless -"

"I don't want to get off. I want the death sentence. I deserve it; I deserve to die, preferably as torturous as possible. In fact, the electric chair would be rather fitting, no?" She managed to say this with a light tone of voice. The guards seemed still frightened of her, and Laura gulped. How the psychologists had declared her no more mentally instable than the average American, Laura had no idea.

"Ok…" There was a long silence. Laura looked through her papers. Then she came up with a question. "Do you have any family? Living relatives? Anyone we should contact?"

"No."

The answer was so simple, and the tone of voice so changed from the light and happy one she had adorned throughout the conversation. It was dark and threatening. One of the guards made a signal to take the girl away, but Laura shook her head.

"Er, so, Evelyn, is it ok if I call you Evelyn?" the girl nodded. "Can you describe for me, from your point of view, the events which occurred on the fifteenth of May this year?"

"As I said, the surveillance cameras tell the story well enough."

"Well, can you tell me why those people died?"

Evelyn smiled and tilted her head to the right, looking at Laura as though she was being blind for an obvious answer. "Because their internal organs were fried."

Laura sighed. "No, as in motives."

"Miss Vandom, perhaps some things are better off, untold."

Laura sighed again, resisting the urge to bang her head into the table. "Is there anything at all you can tell me?"

"According to aerodynamics, the bumblebee cannot fly. Not knowing this, the bumblebee flies anyway."

"Anything relevant to this case?"

"Ever heard of the butterfly effect?"

"Yes, vaguely."

"Perhaps."

Laura frowned, not quite understanding. Then she returned to the girl's wish. "You want the death penalty? You are twenty-three years old, and you want the death penalty?"

"Why not? Why live in guilt, in isolation, for the rest of my days, when I deserve to die?"

"You feel guilty?" Laura asked, hoping she'd finally have gotten somewhere.

"I feel guilty about a lot of things in my life, miss Vandom." Evelyn bowed her head in a resigned fashion.

"Want to tell me?"

She looked up, the electric blue eyes meeting Laura's brown. "No."

Or not, Laura thought.

----------------------------

As the guards shuffled to get out the young girl, Laura felt sorry for her. There was something in her behavior that suggested a rough past of sorts. She had no worries about fulfilling Evelyn's wish of the death penalty; the defender of the state was a Jacobi Elos, a big-shot lawyer with the rumor of never having lost a case.

And she was just a lawyer from the public office with little experience at all.

She sighed and closed her brief case, watching as the large guards barely dared to even look at the girl they were taking out, despite her petite size and her obvious disadvantage in strength.

Laura sighed again and picked up her cell phone. She had a few phone calls to make, and then a meeting with Mr. Elos.

There would be more chances to talk to Evelyn, even if she couldn't talk to the girl the way she talked to other clients. She was, after all, a very dangerous mass murderer.


	2. Chapter 1

Evelyn stared at the dark, padded walls. The walls, which had become her home in the past three months. Brief periods of freedom, a shower once a week, and meetings with attorneys and policemen, were her only relief.

The guards didn't talk to her. They never did. Three times a day they had come in with food, disgusting goop and just generally stuff Evelyn would never have eaten normally, as the health freak she was, or had been. Before.

After two months they realized that she barely ate and wouldn't eat either, they cut down on her food slightly and gave her two portions a day instead. It was probably against some rules, but Evelyn didn't care and, well, the management wasn't going to rule in favor of a mutant mass murderer.

Laura had checked in on her a few times, tried to start up a conversation, but since Evelyn did nothing but ignore her and stare at the walls, it didn't do much good. Evelyn didn't want to talk. She didn't feel that she deserved it, she didn't deserve human contact. She had shunned humanity; she had pushed herself out of the happy life she had lived, the loving family she had had, by killing those people.

She let out a small sigh and wondered if she would ever forgive herself.

A door opened and the fluorescent lights were turned on. Evelyn could easily have reached up and taken electricity from these lights, even if they were much to high up for her to reach she could have used the little amount of energy she had left and attracted more. But she didn't want to; it was true as she had said to Laura. She wanted the death sentence. If she got the electric chair, she would let the electricity ruin her body. She would push away her powers' defensive mechanisms and die.

"You there! Come here, mutant."

Evelyn stood up, bowing her head as the guard entered to put her into the strait jacket. He was shaking, just slightly but enough for Evelyn to notice. His fear gave her no satisfaction. She didn't fight as he strapped the jacket, and then roughly grabbed hold of her arm to lead her out of the room.

---------------------------------

"Miss Vandom, I am pleased to see that someone is on time today."

"Mr. Elos." Laura said, trying to sound pleasant but coming off as a bit tense. Mr. Elos seemed a lot more relaxed, and he was smiling politely.

"How are you this sunny day?" he asked. He was acting kind so that Laura would relax and she knew that. Jacobi Elos was slightly over middle age, but you couldn't tell. His face was sharp and alert, even with the smile. The smile was polite and didn't reach his eyes. His skin was tanned, he had only lived in America for about a year, before that he lived in Greece. He was married and had two children, a nineteen-year-old son and a seventeen-year-old daughter.

Laura knew these facts from a magazine article she had read. Jacobi Elos was a top-notch lawyer who had never lost a case, and he wasn't planning on losing this either. In Laura's mind, the case was already lost because her client wanted what Elos wanted to give her. However, Laura wasn't going to say anything about that and instead figured she could view it as a won trial if Elos convinced the jury of death sentence.

"Oh, I'm fine. And you?" Laura asked, still fighting to keep the pleasant voice. She was tired and in no mood to handle Jacobi Elos.

"Fine, fine. Had some trouble with my son last night, he's at a funeral today. His best friend or something."

How someone could sound so cold when saying that, about their own son, Laura couldn't understand. There was something odd with this man. Laura was just about to come with a comment when the door on the other side of the glass opened, and once again Laura watched the process of the small girl being strapped into the chair.

"They can't seriously be afraid of that little girl," Mr. Elos said with a hint of a chuckle. Laura remained silent and sat down in one of the chairs. She looked at Evelyn.

"Hello, Evelyn. How are you?" Evelyn just nodded. "This is Jacobi Elos. Mr. Elos, Evelyn Dahl." Evelyn's eyes widened slightly at his name, and a light of recognition flamed up behind her eyes. She masked it quickly behind a polite emptiness.

"Miss Dahl, is it?" Mr. Elos smiled politely. "Shall we begin then?"

----------------------------------

Elos. Jacobi Elos. The name was so familiar to Evelyn, she thought as she was shipped back, rudely, to her isolation cell. Jacobi Elos and Harry McKenzie, they had been friends. Senator Harry McKenzie, back then the proud husband of Sara McKenzie (formerly Dahl) and father of young Evelyn. Poor Evelyn, who tragically died in a drowning accident at the tender age of fourteen.

The thought struck a smile to Evelyn's lips, and the guard stared at her, a new light of fear in his eyes. She bowed her head again, pushing away the smile.

Memories flooded her mind. She pushed them away, didn't want them, didn't want memories of happiness with her father. Didn't want memories at all, they only gave her pain. It pained her to think of her own stupidity.

There was furniture in the padded room. A bed, a toilet, and a sink. The bed was nearly unused by her; she had woken up the first night from nightmares and fallen off it. It happened every time she slept, and since then, she had slept on the floor. It was simpler that way, less of a risk to get hurt by the nightmares.

She lay down on the floor and curled up into a ball, staring up at the unlit fluorescent lights and tried to fall asleep.

-------------------------

A pathway between two worlds. The pathway itself was light, no sun was shining but the sky was light but clouded, the clouds white and gray, floating quickly in every direction.

Evelyn stared up at the clouds, smiling. Then she looked around her. The pathway was a bridge, a bridge high up, and underneath her, far down, was water and spiky rocks. In one direction was light, a summerset meadow, with flowers everywhere. The grass was as green as ever and she could see butterflies flying, children running around, and she saw one who caught her eye. A young boy, maybe five or six, with intense, blue eyes and brown hair, was waving at her. His face was round, yet broad, his eyes had a familiar shape and so did his lips.

Evelyn let out a muffled cry and turned around. The other direction lead to darkness, evil green eyes staring out from the dark, shadows crawling around, growling, screams of pain were heard among cries for help.

She turned back to the meadow, and the boy was crying. A man toward his late twenties came up to the boy, held him tight. They both looked up at her and smiled, beckoning her to them.

Then, lightning struck. It struck straight into the bridge, causing an explosion. Evelyn was thrown back, into the darkness, away from the man and the child, away into nothingness were no one could save her…

She awoke by a flash in the room. Convinced it was lightning, the crawled up into a corner, temporarily blinded by the light. When her sight returned, she realized that someone had turned on the lights in her cell, and that a guard was standing in the doorway.

"Visitor." The man gruffed, and Evelyn saw a flashing image of a man in front of her, short but very strong, a man who could make her safe and whom she loved a lot. He'd been like a father to her… She shook the images away and stood up, preparing for the normal treatment. A number of guards came in and quickly (and with more force than needed) got her into the strait jacket.

They really were afraid of her, and it made her feel sick.

The guards lead her through the cold hallways. Evelyn stared down at the floor, moving along, taking many steps to keep up with the tall guards.

They arrived at the usual place, where Evelyn had met Laura a number of times and Mr. Elos as well. She didn't think it was either of them this time, they usually said that it was her lawyer, not just visitor.

A forbidden thought jumped into her mind. What if it was him? No, it couldn't be him. Surely, he hated her by now. She thought back and supposed, in hindsight like this and with hours to think inside her isolation cell, she could have handled things differently; she could have left some kind of explanation. Had she forgotten about her friends completely that day? She wasn't sure.

She stepped into the well-lit room and sat down, letting the guards strap her down. As usual, they pulled the chords a bit too tight, but she didn't say a word. She was too busy staring at the man on the other side of the glass.

Charles Xavier.

"Hello, Evelyn. How are you?" his tone of voice was light and chit-chatty, but Evelyn sensed what lay behind it. He wanted to know, wanted to know why, as did everyone else at the mansion. They had been her family for the past five years, did she owe them nothing?

But she wouldn't tell anyone. Everything would have been in vain if she did. Not that she really knew herself what she was protecting.

"I'm alive." She answered, trying to keep the same tone of voice. But behind her blue eyes, those eyes that used to radiate of happiness and love, was now a different emotion, one Charles Xavier was very unused to seeing in the young woman's eyes. There was carefulness, regret, loathing. He tried hard not to look away, knowing the image of her eyes would be burned into his mind.

"That's good, very good." Evelyn fought the urge to ask how everyone was. It would be better if professor Xavier returned and told everyone she was completely cold; they would get over her better that way. The thought made her laugh, but not out loud, no. She bowed her head slightly and laughed inside her mind, a bone-chilling laughter. That is, if anyone had heard it, it would be.

"Evelyn, there's something I wanted to ask. The reason I came here is far from it only being a social visit, but I suppose you know that already. I-"

"I won't tell you, professor." Evelyn said, anticipating his question. "So it's no use asking. Don't waste your breath." It hurt to say these cold words, but Evelyn forced them out with a mask she'd worked on in the shadows of the cell.

"Well," the professor began, caught off guard by her comment. He was staring intently at her through the glass, and suddenly, Evelyn realized what he was doing. Her eyes widened and she began screaming.

"No NO NO NO NO GET ME OUT OF HERE GER ME OUT GET ME OUT GET ME OUT!" she began thrashing around, trying to get out of the restraints. She even dared shoot up a small, small spark, frightening the guards.

"I'm sorry, professor Xavier, we've got to take you out of here now." Evelyn heard on of the guards say that, and saw Xavier being rolled out. She knew she'd put herself into trouble, but it was worth it. Rather that than Xavier finding out the truth.

----------------------------------

The ceiling was dark, very dark, against the gray-black walls. High, high up there, it could be compared to the sky on a dark, cloudy night, for there were no stars in the ceiling.

_My ceiling is someone else's floor_, Evelyn thought.

Two months had passed since Xavier's visit. Two months. Laura had come to visit her twice, once just before the trial, to try and convince her to plead guilty, and to try to convince her to ask for life in prison. But Evelyn wouldn't budge.

And then once after the trial. It had been quick and easy. The evidence was there, the security cameras were the only witnesses. Laura had seen her to tell her the verdict.

Death, by the nowadays unconventional but still used, electric chair. Mutant supporting groups were raging against the decision, but Laura wouldn't appeal. Evelyn had accepted the verdict ages before it fell.

Evelyn had been alone for three weeks. It was driving her insane, not having someone to talk to. Instead, she thought, stared up at the ceiling or into the wall and thought. She barely ate, the food was disgusting anyways, she didn't say a word, she barely moved, except to change positions every now and then, and to stretch.

The gray walls were staring at her. Evelyn closed her eyes and repeated inside her head, in a sing-song voice, _my ceiling is someone else's floor._ _My ceiling is someone else's floor. My ceiling is someone else's floor. My ceiling is someone else's floor._

She opened her eyes again. The walls stared down at her, ready to attack at any moment. No one was there to save her; no one would save her, never again would she be saved. The walls told her this, and they laughed. They laughed.

The walls moved in on her, moved closer.

Evelyn whimpered and crawled into a small, small ball on the floor. Fear overtook her; she wanted out, she wanted to get away. She longed for a hand to touch her arm; someone to hold her tight and tell her everything was going to be okay.

But she didn't deserve it.

The walls stared down at her, and she realized that they would keep doing that.

For the rest of her life.


	3. Chapter 2

The days and night passed in a blur. Evelyn slept when she got tired, ate when there was food and she was hungry, and the rest of the time she just stared at the walls, the gray walls, suffocating her. The room seemed to never end. Isolation, isolation, isolation, there was nothing worse.

The walls had gone from black to gray as her eyes adapted to the light, or dark, in the cell. The padded gray walls suffocated her, made it difficult to breathe as they stared down at her. They fed off of her emotions, wanted everything inside that cell to die, so that, once she was dead, it could find a new victim to consume.

Evelyn was very, very pale, she noticed, as she stared at her hand. What used to be a normal glow of static around her skin was now a faded paleness. Her hair was much darker than it had ever been in her mutant life. That too was bad.

The gray. The gray all around was suffocating her, made her forget if it was day or night, time ceased to exist and yet it was never-ending…She longed for something to save her from the gray, the all-consuming gray…

Isolation. Isolation, isolation, isolation.

Was there anything worse?

Evelyn twitched, her senses slowly perceiving the sound of steps around her. But she was alone, how could she be hearing steps? She sat up, slowly, getting her muscles to correspond. Someone or something was lurking in the dark shadows among the gray.

_Oh God_, Evelyn thought, a brief moment of panic flitting through her heart, _the gray has materialized and it's come to kill me_. With a shaky, low voice, Evelyn called out, "Hello?" while mustering up the last bit of strength she had to gather the electricity in her body. "He-hello?" she whispered again. A deep, womanly chuckle responded, and the shadow moved to the other side of the room.

"Hello? Who's there?" she whispered, frightened.

"I can help you," the shadow said. Its voice was deep, mature, sounding much older than Evelyn's whisper. It was a woman. There was a pause, a breathless pause when even the air seemed to have frozen between Evelyn and the shadow, and then the shadow continued. "I can save you from the gray."

"But there is a catch," she continued, "There always is, you know?" she chuckled again. Evelyn listened intently; anything she could do to get rid of the gray was good enough. "Darling, I want to know about you. I want to know about your life. I want you to tell me."

"If you do that, I'll protect you from the gray." The shadow chuckled again. "Do you understand, little one?"

Evelyn nodded. "Deal."

"Good." The shadow said. "Now sleep."

Moments later, Evelyn fell asleep, and slept the full night without nightmares.

When she woke up, the gray was gone. Or, it was still there, only… It wasn't. It wasn't looking to consume her anymore, wasn't threatening her, even if she knew that any mistake, any wrong move on her behalf would make it come back.

And she was still alone.

"Hello?" she whispered, managing to sit up. Her head was hurting, but that was nothing to bother about. Nothing she could do anything about at least. It went over to a furious pounding, like someone was kicking violently on her brain. Moments after it began, it ended.

"Good morning, Evelyn. Are you ready to tell me now?"

Evelyn shook her head. "No, I… I need to know who you are."

"I am no one to bother about, I am the only one who can help you from the gray and that is all you need to know." The voice sounded strong and decisive, as though this conversation was to end right there, but Evelyn wouldn't settle that easily.

"Can't I see you? Just a little?"

"No." The voice was cold.

"But… What's your name?"

"I have no name," she answered dismissively.

"Then what do I call you?"

"You can call me… Eva."

-------------------------

The sky outside was a mixture of gray, blue and purple. The sound of thunder echoed throughout the entire house, followed by a small, suffocated scream. Flash upon flash of lightning lit up the rooms. In one, a little girl was lying in her bed, shivering and crying, and with a blue blanket wrapped tightly around her.

Evelyn was eight years old and terrified of thunder.

"Daddy," she cried out, not daring to move. "Daddy!"

Another flash lit up the room, quickly followed by a loud rumble, and Evelyn screamed again.

"Evelyn?" a comforting voice said from the door. All he got in response were sobs from underneath the blanket.

"Oh, Evelyn," her father said, kneeling down next to her bed. "Is it the storm? The lightning? The flashes?"

"N-no," came the girl's quivering voice from beneath the blanket. "Th-the noise."

"Evelyn, the noise isn't dangerous." Harry said, pulling down the cover slightly. Tears had stained Evelyn's cheeks and her black hair was a tangled, curly mess around her head.

"I know," the little girl whispered, staring at her father with big, tear-filled blue eyes. "But it still s-scares me."

"Evelyn, bluebird, the thunder is only there to tell us how far away the lightning is. Do you know what lightning is?"

"Static tension in the air?" Evelyn asked carefully, sitting up slightly.

"Good enough," her father said, but Evelyn wasn't finished.

"Or, the occurrence of a brief natural, ah, high-voltage electrical discharge between a cloud and the ground or, um, within a cloud, accompanied by a bright flash and often thunder."

"That's better." Harry said, smiling at his daughter. She worked so hard to make him pleased. She managed a small smile back. "And what is thunder?"

"A loud rumbling or, eh, crashing noise heard after a flash of lightning due to the, ah, expansion of rapidly heated air."

"Good girl." Harry said, and he could see Evelyn was feeling better already. Then, a very loud roar of thunder sounded, and Evelyn shrieked and hid under the blanket again.

Harry held back a sigh. "All right, bluebird. I'll be right back, okay" Evelyn nodded under the blanket with a choked sob. She really didn't like the thunder. The lightning was pretty, and for some reason she felt almost attracted to it, but the thunder was terrifying.

A few minutes later, Evelyn heard her father come back. She glanced over the edge of the blanket and saw that he was carrying a large set of headphones and a CD.

"What's that, father?" Evelyn asked carefully, meaning the CD. A spark of curiosity lit up in her eyes.

"This," said her father, fiddling with a CD-player, "is Wagner, Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, among others. It's classical music. Put these on," he handed Evelyn the headphones and she put them on.

A moment later, "O Fortuna" by Carl Orff played in her ears. The mighty tones in combination with the large headphones drowned out all other noise.

Harry smiled, as his daughter was absorbed in the power of the music, and decided it was safe to leave her alone and return to his own work.

Twenty minutes later, the thunderstorm hadn't disappeared, but not another sound had been heard from Evelyn.

Her father walked to Evelyn's room and knocked on the door. No answer came. He carefully opened the door and saw a small figure by the window. A flash lit up the room, and the figure tensed up a bit, but quickly relaxed, despite the sound of the thunder.

"Evelyn?" Harry asked, but Evelyn couldn't hear him. The music was too loud.

Harry smiled and closed the door again, leaving his daughter to the beauty of music and light.

-----------------------

"I don't remember much…" Evelyn began, but Eva interrupted.

"That doesn't matter. Don't think. Talk."

-----------------------

Tiny footsteps were heard against the soft carpet. A steady tapping against a keyboard made the counter-sound for the footsteps. A ten-year-old Evelyn was running around in the corridor outside of her father's study, to which the door was open.

The sun was shining in through the windows in the corridor; it was an early July morning. After some minutes, the running stopped, and almost silently, the little girl entered the study and crept up to her father. She was so tiny she barely reached up to her father's shoulder when he was sitting down.

Evelyn sat down on the wooden floor and stared up at her father, the large, blue eyes wide open. She stared at him like that for a while, as he kept writing, before she gently tugged at his leg.

"Daddy?"

Harry 'mhm'-ed and looked down, briefly, before his eyes returned to the screen. His work was very important to him.

"Daaddy…" he sighed and bent down to her. "Yes, Bluebird?"

"Daddy, Emily told me there's a circus in town and I was wondering, please please please daddy can I go?"

Harry sighed again. "I'm sorry, Evelyn. I've got work to do. Now run along, please, be a dear. I've got work to do. Go to your mother."

Evelyn sighed. "But Daddy, you said -"

"I know what I said, Evelyn, but I've got work to do. Go to your mother." Her father sounded a lot stricter this time, and Evelyn immediately fell silent. She stood up and nodded. "Alright father. I'm sorry for disturbing you."

"That's better, Bluebird." Harry's lips twisted slightly into a tense smile. "And don't run in the hallway."

Evelyn nodded and walked out of the room, heading downstairs to her mother. Sara McKenzie was standing by the kitchen sink, peeling potatoes. The radio was on, but very low, and the sun shone behind her, reflecting in the pot on the stove and the knives that were out.

"Mamma?" Evelyn said timidly, and Sara glanced at her daughter quickly. "Yes, sweetie?" Evelyn smiled her prettiest smile. "Could you take me to the circus? The one I told you about in the car?"

Sara sighed. "Älskling, I'm making lunch right now, and besides, you know I don't have a license. Didn't I say you have to ask your father about it?"

"But daddy's working, he's really busy." Evelyn made it so she sounded really sad. She really wanted to go to the circus.

"Then there isn't anything I can do, Evelyn. If your father is busy, he's busy. His work is very important. Here, help me cut the potatoes would you?" Sara switched subjects and Evelyn suppressed a sigh, before she took a stool to reach up to the counter so she could help her mother.

---------------------

Eva was silent. Evelyn looked around her, staring blindly into the shadows of the darkness. "Are you there?" she whispered, and the deep laughter greeted her.

"Darling, I'm here. I'm here. Not to worry. Just keep on talking, sweetheart, I'm here."

"Why where you so quiet?"

"I was just thinking, darling. Go on, go on. Talk to me."

---------------------

"Bluebird, are you dressed yet?" Harry McKenzie called, and the thirteen-year-old Evelyn walked down the stairs. Her curls were in perfect order in a bun on top of her head, with a few curls falling here and there. At thirteen, Evelyn was about 4 ft. 10, and had yet to develop much at all. She looked like she was about ten, and because of it, she acted like she was fifteen. Her parents were proud of her, even if she had a bit of a rash and impulsive streak. Most often, she could handle it.

"Yes, father. I'm done." Sara was in the kitchen, putting the last hand on the cake they were having for desert. Harry smiled at his daughter, and Evelyn returned the smile. Perfect daughter, for the evening. The doorbell rang moments later, and Harry patted her lightly on the head before Sara walked past them, wearing a blue cocktail dress, and opened the door.

Greetings were exchanged, hands were shaken, and Evelyn stood by the stairs looking pretty and smiling. The family consisted of two adults and two children, a little girl of seven and a boy of nine. The boy looked older than he was. The adults were Jacobi and Maria Elos, the children Demi and Damien Elos. Demi stood behind her parents much like Evelyn did, smiling quietly. Damien, however, didn't look happy at all.

Dinner was served and the adults talked, asking the children questions every now and then. Evelyn kept smiling, feeling proud when she heard her father talk about her grades. The Elos' responded by talking about their son, although Evelyn could see something else in Mr. Elos' eyes. Damien didn't seem too thrilled about the subject either.

Dinner was over and before desert; Mr. Elos and Harry were going to discuss some business. Demi was allowed to stay downstairs with Sara and Mrs. Elos, but Evelyn when Evelyn excused herself, Mrs. Elos suggested that Damien should follow her.

Adults work in odd ways sometimes. Then again, Mrs. Elos had taken at least two glasses of wine to the dinner, and Evelyn knew how adults got after drinking. She silently agreed with a smile and headed upstairs, wishing she could be alone. She had homework to do.

She heard Damien say something to his mother in Greek, and she told him off, before he came after her, not at all happy about the deal. Evelyn smiled at him, and he glared at her.

"My room's upstairs," she said, and he remained silent.

Evelyn headed up the stairs, and heard her father's voice from the study, as well as Mr. Elos' voice. Then she heard Damien's footsteps against the wood, and she kept walking. She went into her room and left the door open. Damien followed her in and sat down on the bed, without waiting for her to say anything.

"D'you mind if I write some?" she asked, pointing to the laptop on her desk. The boy shrugged, and Evelyn resisted getting annoyed and smiled instead. She turned on the laptop and continued on a piece of homework, an argumentative essay for English. A minute later, she heard Damien mutter, "Could I have some paper and a pen?" in his broken English. Evelyn smiled and nodded, before handing him a bunch of papers and a pencil.

Ten minutes later, not another word had been passed between them, with the exception of when Damien had asked for an eraser. Though the boy had in fact looked up to glare at her from his paper. Evelyn stood up and excused herself to the bathroom.

_I can't help it_, she thought as she looked at herself in the mirror. The lights were dimmed and cast an eerie shine across her face, making her look nearly blue. _I don't like him, it's like he's trying his very best to annoy me somehow_. She sighed, but put on a smile again. Smile for the people; it makes them happy.

She returned to the room to find Damien sitting by her laptop, reading intently and sniggering a little. He muttered something in Greek, and Evelyn looked over his shoulder. He was reading her diary!

Stomping down her foot to make sure he noticed her presence, she turned on her heel and half-ran down the stairs. Collecting herself for a moment, she walked into the kitchen where Sara and Mrs. Elos were chatting over a glass of wine. Evelyn whispered in her mother's ear what had happened, Sara told Mrs. Elos, and the circus was loose.

Mrs. Elos apologized profusely for her son's behavior, but Damien didn't look sad at all. He just looked grouchy.

The last thing Evelyn remembered of that night was Mr. Elos talking to Damien in a very strict tone of voice, and when they left, Damien turned around and mouthed to her, "Hope you're happy now."

---------------------

Laura stared at the screen. The security guard looked at her; his name was Tony, she noticed.

"Now, miss V, I ain't no psych-person, and I ain't the brightest, but is that really normal? Talkin' like that? There ain't no one else in there, I've checked."

"No, but…" Laura kept in a sigh. "Don't worry about it, Tony. It's quite common when you're in isolation like she is." She paused and listened to the girl talking. She acted like someone was answering her, and she was answering to this person.

But this was her life. Evelyn Dahl was telling the story of her life.

"Just… do you think you could send me copies of these tapes, Tony?"

----------------------

One night in late September when Evelyn was thirteen, she awoke in the middle of the night by noises downstairs. This was odd, seeing as her parents had been away over the weekend on some important series of business dinners and weren't due back until very late that night, or very early Monday morning, depending on how you wanted to look at it.

When Evelyn had awoken enough to realize this, she carefully stepped out of the bed to go to the study and call for the police. The digital clock next to her bed read 00:48, which meant her parents wouldn't come home for another two or three hours at least.

She held her breath as she creeped through the hallway. Her heart was pounding hard against her chest, harder with every step she took and with every sound from the bottom floor.

As she came close to the study, she heard voices in the stairs. There was barely time for being careful, so Evelyn quickly opened the door, happy that the door was squeak-free.

She gently closed the door and hurried over to her father's desk, grabbing the wireless phone and a paper knife lying next to the phone and placed herself under the desk to hide. Quickly, she dialed 911 and pressed the green phone-button.

"911 emergency, what's your emergency?" a bored woman's voice said quickly. Evelyn forced out the whispered words as she heard voices outside the door.

"There are people in my house, breaking an entrance, burglary." The voiced outside paused for a moment, and then continued. They were speaking a foreign language, which sounded like French.

"What's your name and address miss?"

"Evelyn McKenzie-Dahl," she said and then said her address and phone number. The men outside seemed excited.

"Stay with me here miss." The woman said, sounding much too calm for Evelyn's liking. It was like she didn't really even care.

"They're coming in here!" Evelyn whispered just as the door opened. "Stay calm, miss McKenzie. Help is on the way. Just stay where you are dear."

"They're in here!" Evelyn whispered breathlessly. From where she was sitting, she could see just above the burglars' knees. They all seemed to be wearing black pants. She wondered what would happen if they found her. Would they kill her, or simply kidnap her? Or would they actually leave her alone?

As she heard the woman talking in the phone, the men froze up and she carefully hung up by pressing the button.

"Nothing. Get back to it!" A New Orleans-French accented voice spoke, and Evelyn glanced out to see them taking out a painting through the door. It was an expensive painting, but Evelyn didn't care, nor would her father or mother. Sara Dahl had never had much of an expensive taste, and her father could always buy new things.

Evelyn shifted position a bit, and accidentally knocked her foot into the desk. She cursed quietly, hoping no one had heard, and lucky for her, all the men seemed to continue with their stealing.

Except for one. A bit younger was he, but he'd heard the thump and the whisper. He carefully went down on his knees, before he took out a deck of cards from his pocket. He picked a card, the queen of hearts, and smirked.

"Allo, cheri." He said quietly and moved so he was sitting in front of Evelyn. Evelyn's eyes widened as he looked straight into them. His eyes were red and nearly glowing, and his lips were twisted into a bad smirk. Bad for Evelyn, who slipped the paper knife up her sleeve discreetly.

"Get lost, this is my spot," Evelyn muttered without thinking first. The young man tutted and shook his head. "Cheri, you be le petite Evelyn McKenzie, non? What be you den, eight, nine?"

He was playing with her, trying to make her get the attention of the other men, who seemed too busy with admiring the alcohol cabin to notice the young man's odd behavior.

"I'm thirteen." She muttered, glaring at him. She hated how impulsive and rash she was sometimes.

"Well, cheri," the man said, holding up the card. "This be your lucky day. See, dis card here, will help us get a fortune. We kidnap you, and ooooh, we get de big money! Hope you' pretty little head dun have a problem with dat."

Evelyn smiled back at him. "No, not at all. But I can't guarantee what the rest of my body feels!" she hissed and let the paper knife slide out her sleeve, and she stabbed the man right above the knee. He yelped in pain and surprise, and Evelyn took her chance to run.

The men might have been big, scary and many, but Evelyn was small and quick. Somehow she managed to run out of the house and past the men they'd set out as guards and in to the group of trees next to the yard. She decided to wait there for the police.

------------------

"Tell me more, Evelyn. Don't stop."

"I'm tired, Eva. Please, let me sleep…"

There was a sigh from the darkness. "Fine. Sleep then, little one. Sleep."

_While you can still wake up._


	4. Chapter 3

My computer is being mean. The computer on which I store all my writing. All of it. And I've got about half of chapter ten on that computer. So I won't be able to publish too much now... But I'll give you all this chapter. Haha. See it as an early Christmas Present. x3

Note: I own Evelyn. And there's nothing else here yet that I don't own. So there xP

* * *

Evelyn was lying on a hard bench, trying to sleep. The police had been nice toward her, but she was still scared. She's stabbed someone in the leg with a letter opener. That was scary. She wondered how long the red eyes would haunt her, or if they would even haunt her at all.

_Go to sleep_, her mind told her. It was six in the morning, which meant two things. One, she was going to miss school, and two, her parents would be home soon. That also meant they would be at the police station soon. Or perhaps they had already been contacted and were going to go directly to the station. Maybe they had already been told about the burglary.

_Go to sleep_, her mind begged, but Evelyn couldn't. The eyes were staring at her in the dark. _Hush now, Evelyn. Don't be afraid. All you have to do is stab him again._

_But I don't want to stab him. I don't like stabbing people. There's blood when you stab people._

_So zap him then, _her mind retorted. _Zap him with your secret weapon. Just zap him, a small one. You've got something he doesn't, you know. You've got powers even you don't know of yet._

"Yeah," Evelyn mumbled with a tired smile, curling up into a ball on the bench. "I'll zap him." _I'll zap him good._

_-------------------_

"No, no, she's fine. Just let her sleep, Mrs. McKenzie. The poor girl's had a rough night. I don't think she got to sleep until around six."

"Do you know who it was?"

"Well, according to your daughter, the men spoke French and one, a younger male, had red eyes. Our only suspect would be-"

"The LeBeaus'?" her father's voice sounded bitter. Evelyn realized she was awake, but didn't open her eyes. Since she was only a child, she didn't often get to hear conversations like this.

"You know the LeBeau's?" the officer asked, and Evelyn recognized his voice as the nice man who'd given her a cookie earlier. She had managed to ignore the fact that they were very unhealthy, bought in big packages at some supermarket. It had been chocolate chip.

God knew she was a spoilt health freak, but at least she wasn't going to die at the age of 57 because of obesity and heart failure.

"Yes, I've met Jean-Luc LeBeau on more than one occasion. He isn't too fond of my way of running this state."

They exchanged polite smiles, Evelyn guessed, while her mother was standing over her and looking worried. Evelyn could feel her presence next to her, and it made her feel calm and safe.

"Now, Mrs. McKenzie, if you wish to stay with your daughter, I understand, but Senator McKenzie, I would need to speak with you about your possessions."

"Of course. Sara, will you be all right?"

"Yes, yes. Go on, Harry. I'll wake up Evelyn."

The door opened and closed, and Sara crouched down next to the bench.

"Jag vet att du är vaken, älsklingen min. Open your eyes; you know it's impolite to eavesdrop."

Evelyn blushed and sat up. "I'm sorry, mamma." She looked up at her mother. Her long, blond hair was pulled back in a simple bun, but some hair had fallen out. Her blue eyes looked tired, and her face seemed five years older than she was.

"Are you ok?" Evelyn nodded and her mother gave her a tired smile. She sat down next to Evelyn, and opened up her arms. "Kom hit, lilla gumman."

Evelyn moved closer, carefully, so she was sitting in her mother's lap. She didn't want to hurt her, but even though she was twelve Evelyn didn't weigh more than 95 pounds. But as Sara put her arms around her daughter and held tight, Evelyn felt safer than she'd felt since her parents left Friday night.

"I was so worried when they called," Sara whispered into her daughter's hair, kissing her on the top of the head.

"I'm sorry, mamma." Sara laughed wearily. "It's not your fault, bluebird. You didn't tell those men to break into our house." She held on tighter. "You did the right thing. You-"

"But I said I could handle myself!" Evelyn exclaimed, feeling all the emotions from the night returning to her. All the fear, from the burglars coming, to the young man she had stabbed (she wondered briefly once again how he was right now. She didn't think she'd cut too deep) to the night with the police. All those big, scary people. For a young girl who looked five years younger than she was, all the officers were very scary, because most of them were so tall. She buried her head in her mother's shoulder. Sara stroked her back in a very comforting way.

"And you did, lilla älskling. What was the first thing you did?" Evelyn thought, keeping her head on her mother's shoulder. "I went to hide in the study so I could call the police." She whispered, and Sara smiled, kissing her on the top of her head.

"Exactly! That shows you can take care of yourself. You did the right thing. Oh, angel," Sara pulled Evelyn even closer, hugging her as though she was never going to be hugging her again. "Don't worry. You did the right thing. We're just happy you're unharmed."

Evelyn smiled tiredly in her mother's shoulder. She wished they could stay like this forever.

-------------------

"Your mother seems like a nice woman." Eva said, slight laughter to her voice.

"She was, well, I suppose she still is." Evelyn smiled. "She was the best mother I could have ever had. But, in the end, I suppose she loved my father more than me. But that's ok, I understand. She had duties to him. I-"

"More about that later, little one. Take things in order, or else you'll get confused. Chronologically, it's the easiest way to understand things, to get all the facts."

Evelyn nodded. "You're very smart, Eva. Did you know?"

"Yes, yes. Now, continue."

---------------------

Sara McKenzie Dahl was a beautiful woman. Long, straightened blond hair fell in golden cascades around her face, bringing out her intense blue eyes. Her pale skin was slightly freckled, but not very much.

Sara had grown up in a quiet suburb in Sweden, which by the way is not the same thing - nor the capital of - Switzerland. No, it's a small country near Russia, in Scandinavia, above Germany. When she was 19, she's taken a year to study in the U.S.A., where she met Harry through a friend on campus.

Harry was slightly older, handsome, influential, and had a lot of money on his pocket. None of that mattered to Sara, who was attracted to him because of his wit, his smarts and his charisma. They both had fun together, and when it was time for Sara to return home, Harry invited her to come live with him. She agreed to think about it, but knew that she wanted to.

But when she came home and told her parents about her plans, they said no. What if he threw her out on the street? No, she was not leaving the country to live with someone until there was a ring on her finger.

Sara called Harry and told him about her parent's decision, and he simply said, "Ok, want to marry me?"

Three months later, Harry traveled to Sweden and they got married.

Though their marriage may have been a slightly rushed decision, Sara had not once regretted it. Harry was stabile and safe, he was her rock, and she loved him. In her younger days, Sara had been very rash and impulsive, and because of it she had made a few mistakes. Harry had calmed her down. She didn't need to be like that to be happy anymore.

She could see some features in Evelyn reminding Sara of herself and her impulsive personality, but so long as they remained the close family the three were now, Evelyn's slight impulsiveness wouldn't be a problem.

Evelyn was thirteen, fourteen in less than two months, and she was the jewel in Sara's life. She didn't want anything to ever happen to her little bluebird. The burglary that summer still haunted her motherly thoughts.

A quiet knock on the door disturbed Sara's thoughts. She smiled and pulled on a robe over the pajama pants and tank top she was wearing.

"Come on in," she said sweetly, and the door opened. Dressed in blue silk pants and a darker blue tank top, with bouncy black curls flowing behind her, Evelyn entered and carefully closed the door.

"Hi, mamma," Evelyn said, her cheeks blushed against her pale skin. "Hi baby," Sara responded, sitting down on a small couch. Evelyn sat down next to her and pulled up her legs under her chin.

"I- mamma, there's something I've got to ask you about." Evelyn squirmed slightly, her cheeks going pinker by the second.

"What is it, bluebird?" Evelyn remained silent for a while, very flushed. "You can talk to me about anything." Sara added, moving closer to her daughter.

"Well-there's this boy in school-"

"There's a boy?" Sara exclaimed loudly, but quickly regained her calm. "Go on."

"Well, we have English and Literature together, and, um…" she fell silent, and then whispered, "I kind of like him."

"Well, that's great, bluebird," her mother said with a sweet smile. "Does he like you then?" Sara asked. Her little Evi was beginning to like boys. That meant she was growing up. Therefore, she wanted every detail. Evelyn stared at her feet intently, blushing even more.

"I don't know. I mean… I don't know." She said, and Sara suppressed the urge to cry and aww and wail about her little girl growing up and becoming big and adult-y!

"What's he like?" she asked softly, and Evelyn smiled a smile. That kind of smile. Sara wasn't sure if she should cry in happiness or be very, very afraid.

"He's very cute. He had like this really pretty dark brown hair that reaches just past his ears, and always ends up in front of his eyes. And it always looks really, really soft, and I wish I could just go up and drag my hands through it every time I see it, that's how soft it seems. He's got these really dreamy and mysterious like, dark chocolate colored eyes that you just drown in. And he's tall, well, everyone's tall in comparison to me, but still he's very tall. He's so adorable!" she said all this very fast and with that smile on her lips all the time.

"Sounds like a real charmer."

"Yeah," Evelyn whispered dreamily, then she let out a small, romantic kind of sigh. Sara felt so proud of her daughter, at the same time as an overprotective monster inside her wanted to rip this boy into pieces. "What's his name?" Sara asked gently.

"Mark." Evelyn whispered, letting it roll over her tongue. Damian, the most adorable person in the whole world. "He asked me if I needed some help the other day, when I was carrying books back to the library."

"Oh, then I'm sure he likes you," Sara said with a knowing smile. Evelyn blushed and buried her head in her hands to hide it. "No. I mean, he did help me carry, and he invited me to his birthday party this Saturday. I don't think I want to go though."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not the only girl going, and all other girls are… Well… Mature. They are so much prettier, and grown up. He wouldn't see me. I mean, look at me! I'm like a piece of wood, I'm nothing, I'm… flat!" Sara wasn't quite sure what to say or do. It was true that Evelyn didn't seem to have developed yet, and that most of her class mates had done so, but Sara wasn't sure Evelyn would develop much more either. Sara herself was a small b-cup with hips that weren't much brag about. Evelyn had most likely inherited her figure. But there was so much more than just looks, especially when it came to Evelyn. She was vivid, lively, and colorful. She could enter a room and make even the stiff politicians' wives - the ones' that she met regularly for Harry's sake - smile and laugh.

"Bluebird, don't say that," Sara said and lifted Evelyn's head up so their eyes met. "Maybe you don't have your curves yet, but that doesn't matter. You're beautiful just the way you are. Besides, it's what's on the inside that matters. That's something you never can forget." She moved closer and placed one arm around Evelyn's shoulder.

"I've learnt one thing here in life. It's not what other's think of you that makes you strong, or weak. It's what you think of yourself. It doesn't matter if other's believe in you or not, but if you believe in yourself. Be confident in yourself, or you won't get anywhere in life."

"I'll always be here to believe in you, angel. And I think you are beautiful, not because you are my daughter, but because I think you truly are."

"You think?" Evelyn asked, and Sara nodded honestly. "And you know what? On Saturday, you and I will have a girl's day. We'll go to a spa, we'll relax, and we'll have a really great time. Then I'll get someone who can give you a basic make-up, we'll go do our hair, our nails… And we'll shop! Then in the evening, you go to Mark's party. Ok?"

Evelyn smiled at her mother, absolutely thrilled. "Thank you mamma. I love you!" She hugged her mother, who hugged her tight.

"Jag älskar dig också, älsklingen min."

------------------

"You talk a lot of Swedish." Eva pointed out. Evelyn's mind told her to blush, but the blood wouldn't correspond. Her cheeks remained as pale as ever.

"Yes, well, mother and I spoke a lot of Swedish, we did. We spent every summer, or at least part of it, in Sweden. We used to spend Christmas there, when I was young, but father didn't like Sweden. He thought it was too cold, and he didn't like not knowing the language."

"Do you like it then?" Eva asked.

"Yes, I love it. I haven't been there, since, well… A long time ago. But I loved it. I didn't like the trip though."

"How so?"

"The plane rides. Mother – well – it's… Complicated."

------------------------

"Come on, mamma, please? We've been through this before."

"I don't want to, Evelyn… Can't we just go back? Or, or take this some other day?"

"No, mamma, they're expecting us, remember? Mormor and Morfar are waiting for us to come, and so is Morbror Jan, he's supposed to pick us up at the airport when we get there."

Evelyn had been pleading with her mother for about ten minutes, but Sara was rooted in the spot. She didn't like flying. She _really_ didn't like flying. In fact, she despised flying so badly, she often refused to go on. Evelyn was usually quite good at persuading her mother, especially after Harry had gotten fed up with being the only one who didn't understand the language and promptly decided Sweden was a mother-daughter thing.

"Mamma, it's ok. I'll just call Morbror Jan, tell him that we can't come and we'll not go this summer. It's ok, really." Sara looked at her daughter with big eyes. Then she slowly shook her head. "N-no, it's, I'll be fine, come now, let's go on board." Sara slowly managed to free her one leg from the invisible cement block around it, and took a step. Then she freed the other leg, and took another step.

"That's it, mamma. Let's take it easy." Evelyn whispered, taking her mother's hand. They walked with small steps. All the time, the female flight attendant who was in control of the door stared at them, wondering what the hell they were doing. Weird people who went flying these days.

Seven minutes and thirty-three seconds later, Sara went through the door and in to the airplane, kindly being guided to their seats by a cute male flight attendant. Very cute, Evelyn thought. She hoped he would help them for the rest of the flight.

"Come now, mamma. Sit by the window, I'll help you with your seat belt." Sara sat paralyzed in her seat, and the least touch made her jump. Evelyn kept back a sigh, wishing there was something she could do to help her mother. But she knew there was nothing, but to make sure she took her pills later so she could get some sleep instead of becoming extremely paranoid and wanting to kill the pilot so she could fly the plane.

Evelyn stood up, deciding to put up the carry-on they had brought. First she took out a smaller bag, containing a book, Sara's pills, and some other stuff. She placed it on her seat and glanced up, realizing she was never going to reach up to the baggage compartment. And she despised asking for help.

"Do you need help with that, miss?" a cute voice asked. Evelyn turned her head and saw the cute flight attendant. The nametag on his chest labeled him 'Lucas'. Evelyn blushed slightly as he was about 5'6" and she was just above 5 ft". "Um, yeah, could you? Can't really, ah, reach, you know?" she let out a small, lame laughter and he smiled. "What's your name?" he asked as he grabbed the bag and with ease placed in the compartment above.

"Evelyn McKenzie." Lucas smiled. "Pretty name. And is that your… sister?" Evelyn giggled. "No, it's my mother. She doesn't like flying."

Lucas nodded. "No worried, Miss McKenzie. We'll take care of your mother."

"Please, call me Evelyn."

"Evelyn it is," Lucas said with a friendly wink and left to help some other passenger. Evelyn smiled as she studied the cute butt walking away from her, before she sat down in her seat. "Mamma?" she asked gently, and Sara twitched her head toward her daughter. "Want to hold my hand?" Sara nodded and placed her hand in her daughter's small one.

An hour later, Sara was asleep, and Evelyn was bored. She had tried reading the book her father had lent her, a murder novel by Agatha Christie, but it wasn't interesting to her. She had also tried getting ideas down in her sketchpad, but that hadn't worked very well either. Just as she was staring out of the window, considering how it would feel to jump out and soar across the sky, Lucas kneeled down next to her.

"Hi Evelyn." He said with a cute smile. Evelyn smiled back at him. "Finally, someone to talk to, I was getting bored stiff here." Lucas smiled. "Yeah, well, you know. Lucky you I only work first class." Evelyn grinned and Lucas raised an eyebrow. "How old are you, Evelyn?"

"Fourteen, amazing no?" she said with a hint of bitterness in the happy voice. "I look like I'm ten."

Lucas still smiled. "Nah, you don't. You look at least, ah," he looked her over. "Eleven."

"Oh, ha, ha, ha." Evelyn said, but grinned non-the-less. Another attendant came up to Lucas and said something Evelyn didn't bother to pay attention to, and Lucas nodded. "I'll be right back, ok?" Evelyn nodded and watched as the cute butt walked away from her again.

-----------------------

The Dahl family summerhouse was a moderately large, three-room with kitchen, two bathrooms, a sauna, a large cellar and a very large garden surrounding it. The whole area the house was located in was pretty much the same, moderately big houses with big gardens. Evelyn loved the summerhouse, and had decided that when she got old enough to decide for herself, she would change her last name to Dahl. She was also the most likely candidate to inherit the summerhouse, since her uncle didn't have any children.

She loved Sweden, since it was two months she could spend alone with her mother, with the occasional visit from relatives. She loved going into town with Sara, shopping or just walking around, going to museums, the big amusement part called Gröna Lund - literally means Green Grove - or just sitting on the trains or subway, studying people. Sara and her had a lot of fun doing that, seeing the differences between Swedes and Americans.

But most of all she loved the water. Half a mile from the summerhouse was a lake. Evelyn went there every day, at least once, before breakfast, and sometimes around midnight, when the small lake was at it's calmest.

One evening, Evelyn had been so busy pretending she was a character in some book she was reading out on some odd adventure, something she did a lot in the water, so busy that she hadn't noticed the dark clouds that had gathered over the sky.

That was, until she heard the thunder. Evelyn screamed as the thunder sounded, and a heavy rain began to fall. If she'd been wet from playing in the water for hours, it was nothing against what she became when the rain poured.

She quickly swum to the beach, ignoring the clothes she had on a bench. The coarse sand stuck to her wet feet, but she ignored the slight pain of small rocks piercing the skin.

She ran, up the steep hill, through the small forest. The sounds all around were amazing, the sound of bare feet against earth, rain on leaves falling down, hitting the ground in a constant mix of pitter patters, the sound of birds in the wood, getting to their nests, of other animals among the trees, less careful as the rain hid their sounds.

But the only noise in Evelyn's ears was the rumble of the clouds above.

As she reached the edge of the forest, she was terrified. Her whole body was trembling, but there was also an odd sensation that something was going to happen. Like a static tremble in the air. That's when the first lightning struck, not more than 50 feet away from her, and Evelyn realized the only way back to the house was over an open field, with the thunder right above her.

She didn't care; all she wanted was to get home to her headphones so she could frown out the noise.

She wasn't scared of the lightning. Images she could handle – she'd never been squeamish when it came to pictures – but sounds were what got to her.

As Evelyn was halfway over the field, time suddenly slowed down. She stopped running. The whole world around, all the noise, the rain, everything disappeared, and like in slow motion, she saw another flash. The flash was coming straight at her. The light was blinding, and then everything went dark.

When she opened her eyes again, she'd been thrown back toward the water. "I'm dead," she whispered, and surely she must have been. You don't get hit by lightning and survive, not when you're hit straight on and have a weak heart because of slight underweight.

Evelyn stood up, getting the sudden urge to go back to the water. She felt refreshed, like a battery that had been reloaded. An odd comparison. Perhaps, she reasoned, people think odd things when they're dead. And she was dead sure she was dead. Ha. Dead sure.

So maybe she was a bit dazed. After all, she'd just been hit by lightning.

Once she reached the edge of the water, Evelyn felt tingly, like a million things were crawling up and down her skin.

She took one step into the water, and then another, and another. The tingly sensation increased every time she touched the ground, only to fade slightly just after.

After a while, she wondered why she was still reaching the surface. She wasn't very tall, only about 5ft. She turned around and saw that the beach was a very long way back. She had walked over half the lake!

But how was that possible? A lock of blue hair fell in the way of her vision, and with a dark blue hand she reached up to push it away.

Wait. Pause, freeze, rewind. Blue hair? She tugged gently at the lock, and it was indeed hers. As was the blue hand tugging her hair. But it was a very dark blue. The arm connected to the hand was the same color. There was a slight glow around the limbs. That would explain why she was able to see, despite the darkness around.

She glanced down and saw her legs. They were blue as well, and glowing. How odd that she could see them, despite the obsidian mirror that was the surface of the water.

Wait. The _surface_ of the water?

Taking a few steps back, she saw a dark purple glow between the soles of her feet and the black water. Static. She bent down, crawling on all four around on the surface as though it was a floor. There was a low crackle every time she moved, and the purple static was always between her and the surface.

Her heart was pounding in her head. Wait. Pause and freeze again. Her heart. That meant she was alive and…

Walking on water!

No sooner had she thought those exact words than the static gave a wailing crackle and she was engulfed by the obsidian water.

She sank, but the slightly fading glow enabled her to see some. The surface was still visible, and she instinctively tried to swim up.

Then it hit her like the apple hit Newton; she needed air.

Evelyn tried to gasp, but all that came in was water. She was choking, choking on the water. She was sure to actually die now.

The glow around her intensified and grew darker, and as suddenly as she had fallen she was shot out of the water again. As she once again sat on the surface, she relished in the simple joy of breathing and coughing for a few moments. Then she got to her feet, now knowing how long she had before she would break the dark surface again. She ran toward the beach, collapsing on the sand just by the water.

As she passed out, the glow around her faded slightly, leaving her skin pale blue, her hair dark blue and her lips purple.


	5. Chapter 4

Here we go. Merry christmas, or whichever holiday of your choice.  
Present for y'all, Chapter four.  
And good news is, I'm writing chapter ten! I got off my lazy bum and started writing.

Btw, in case ya didn't notice, I don't own the x-men. Just so you don't forget xP

* * *

A bright light woke Evelyn up. She blinked, wondering briefly why everything was so very blue. Then she gently lifted her head, feeling a pounding headache, and let it lay down on top of her arm again.

The bed was unusually hard, she thought, feeling around her with her hand. It felt more like cold, wet rocks than the soft, warm bed she usually slept in. She groaned quietly and lifted her head again, remembering that she wasn't inside in her warm bed. She was outside, down by the beach, by the water, and she had fainted after standing on the water…

Wait a minute. What the hell did all this mean? She had been blue. She looked around, wondering why she didn't see anything, though her eyes were open. Everything was so blue. Just like she had been the previous night. And the electricity around her, inside her, everywhere, the great power she had felt when she had walked on the water…

Evelyn closed her eyes and rubbed them with her hands. She wasn't cold, which was rather odd since she had indeed been sleeping out on the shore all night. She could feel the water against her legs, and she could hear it moving. She glanced around her, but saw nothing but blue.

Then she managed to make out shapes in the blue; different hues and shades. Something was wrong with her eyes, but she wasn't blind. She held up her arm, and let her eyes glide in and out of focus until she could make it out in contrast to the sand on the shore.

Something weird had happened the previous night. "I was struck by lightning," Evelyn whispered. "Now I'm blue and have a lot of electricity in me," it was true. She could feel it moving under her skin, above her skin, everywhere. Then the thought struck her, just like the lightning. She was a mutant.

Why else would the electric thing be happening to her? There was no other obvious explanation. The previous night she had been blue, shining, glowing even, and she had walked on water with static tension under her feet. She wasn't stupid. But her, carrying a mutated gene? That was so wrong, it couldn't be, it shouldn't be. She was Evelyn McKenzie, daughter of Senator McKenzie, one of the biggest supporters of the Mutant Registration Act, with every intent on following it through after he became president.

And there was she, his daughter, a mutant? No, it didn't work, it just didn't fit.

She got up on wobbly legs, focusing her eyes. She crouched down again, searching with her hands for some grass. When she found some, she stared at it intently, making sure that specific shade of blue stuck in her mind. The pathway back home was surrounded by green plants, and she knew the way pretty much by heart. Once she had actually sleepwalked down to the shore.

She slowly and decisively she walked forward, one step at a time, and she counted her steps for concentration. She made sure to stare intently at the path in front of her, noticing the least change in hues, so she could remember it. She wondered how Sara would react, when she came home, wet and... Blue.

Half an hour later, she stumbled into the ditch that separated the main road from the Dahl summerhouse. She lay in the ditch for a while, thinking about nothing at all. Then she got up, trying to see if she was headed the right way, but since she could barely see anything she felt if there was grass or grovel in front of her. She felt the soft grass, still wet from morning dew and the previous night's rain, and crawled up. She got up again, walking slowly toward the house. She knew this path as well, and managed to get to the front door without problem.

She entered the house and sat down in the kitchen, wondering what time it was. She had no idea, since she could see neither the sun outside nor the clock on the wall. In all means, she was blind, even though she saw blue. She simply couldn't separate the different hues.

She heard the bathroom door open and swallowed. "Mamma?" she called out, her heart beating hard with fear. What if Sara didn't understand either? She could easily throw Evelyn out, and she was practically doomed if Sara did that. She couldn't see, didn't have any money, and though she didn't know how Sweden was set on the mutant issue, she doubted the Swedes were positively set.

"God morgon, Evi. I didn't hear you come back last… Night…" Evelyn heard a book drop to the floor as her mother fell silent. There was a pregnant silence between them as Evelyn stared downwards, looking at nothing at all because she could see nothing at all.

"Ev-Evelyn? What has… What – I – you…" Sara seemed at a loss for words. "Could you look at me?"

"I can't, mamma… I can't see anything but blue…"

"You are… blue…" Sara whispered, and Evelyn heard her walking forward and felt her hand brush against her shoulder. Then Sara jumped back with a gasp. "You shocked me." She whispered, aghast.

"Mamma, don't be mad. I'm still your daughter, aren't I? It's just… that… I think I'm a mutant, mamma." Sara didn't say anything for a while. Evelyn heard her pick up the book and wondered if she wasn't leaning against the counter. Sara usually leaned against things when she felt distressed.

"Mamma?" Evelyn whispered, wishing she could look at Sara. The woman remained quiet. What was there really to say?

"Your father won't stand for this… You know that, Evelyn…" she whispered, breaking a long silence. "He won't be… I… think there's only one real solution to this… If you really are a mutant, which you seem to be, quite obviously…." Sara seemed to be more mumbling to herself, unaware of Evelyn's presence.

"Evelyn… I am so sorry, älsklingen min… But, I, your father's career would take serious damage to this, and you know how much he loves his career, and… Oh, Evelyn. You know I love you, but I can't ruin Harry's career in this way. I can't leave him, it would ruin all he's worked for, for so long."

Evelyn looked emptily at the floor, slowly realizing what her mother was saying. She was right, of course, Harry had worked so hard for so many years to get to the place he was at, and if the public found out Harry McKenzie had a mutant daughter, they would be all over him and rip him to pieces. And Sara couldn't leave him, that would create a scandal, and Harry needed to have a wife. It was just wrong not to have a woman by his side at those fancy dinner parties.

"What do you want me to do, mamma?" Evelyn asked quietly. She didn't want to be shunned, but she saw it was the only option. Neither of them wanted to destroy the life's work that had been so carefully built up.

"I- you can't come back with me. You have to stay here. Or travel Europe maybe, just… Don't come back to the States for some time. A long time. We'll… Well, I'll figure out what to tell the press, but Harry will find out the truth." Again Sara seemed to be talking to herself rather than Evelyn.

"Maybe… Yes, a drowning accident. You drowned."

Sara's words cut deep into Evelyn's heart. Not only was she being pushed away from her own family, but now…

She was dead.

* * *

"Isn't that cold? She was, or, I suppose she is still, your mother."

"Sara had a helping people complex. It's… Her purpose for existing was helping my father in his career, being there for him, supporting him. A mutant daughter would have destroyed everything, just like my mother said."

Evelyn lay down and stared into the darkness. Eva still wasn't showing herself, and it made Evelyn uneasy. "People have claimed I have somewhat of the same problem. I just, well, I -"

"Continue, Evelyn."

* * *

Sara left Evelyn with her trust fund, a nice sum of just above a million dollars. Sara bought new plane tickets and left a few days after Evelyn had become blue, making sure everything was taken care of. Evelyn had also gotten the keys to the summerhouse, but she didn't want to stay there longer than necessary. The memories hurt too much, and she felt too alone. She found herself going paranoid, but she couldn't leave until her sight was trained up enough.

She used fruits, apples and oranges, placed them on the table while wearing gloves, switched places on them and tried to see which was which based on the color. It took her a month before she could differ enough to walk outside comfortably.

Evelyn noticed she didn't have to sleep at all, as long as she managed to get energy from elsewhere. Electrical appliances were a large portion of her energy resource, as were batteries. Whatever she ate seemed to digest much quicker than before.

Her new powers would take much time to control, and she still wasn't sure about the whole touching thing. Sara had gotten shocked every time they touched, by the thin layer of electricity running around her whole body. Evelyn guessed it was what made her blue.

Two months after Evelyn found out about her powers, she decided she couldn't handle it anymore. She packed a bag and hitchhiked into Stockholm. There she found good stores, where she bought a good, black coat, with a hood so her face would be covered, leather gloves, and some new clothes. She wanted to leave most of her life behind her, and with this journey, begin a new one.

She traveled down south, through Denmark and into Germany.

Evelyn actually spoke just enough German to get by in a small town as the one she was in, where she was supposed to find somewhere to stay for the night. She'd hitched a ride and this was as far along her course the driver could take her. The late summer heat had followed her from Sweden, and since she was wearing the black coat to cover her skin she was dying from the heat.

Since the streets were relatively empty, she decided to be brave and pull down her hood. She let out a content sigh as a light breeze swept across her cheek and pulled her blue curls as it passed.

She passed under a streetlight, one of the few not broken. The light scared her for a moment, but she calmed herself down. It was only a light, even though she was temporarily blinded.

"Guten abend," a menacing voice said from behind. Evelyn spun around, a mistake she shouldn't have made. The young man was around 19, and he had a bunch of friends behind him. An unlit cigarette rested in his half-open mouth, and he smelt strongly of alcohol.

"I don't smoke," Evelyn whispered with her breath caught in her throat, hoping it would make the man go away. The group of men stared drunkenly at her, and the guy with the cigarette took a step back.

"Mutanten," he hissed, and his friends began muttering, seemingly urging him to do something. "Ja, ja," he said and took a few steps forward, as the rest of his gang formed a semi-circle around Evelyn, trapping her against the brick wall. Evelyn had no real time to react before the first blow came. It was wrongly aimed, but the strength behind it sent her head back into the wall.

Evelyn slid down as she vaguely heard the men talking, perhaps cheering. She instinctively covered her head, only to feel something warm against the back of her hand. The first kick came directly, hitting her in the side. She heard a sickening crack and a searing pain throughout her body; meaning one of her ribs had been broken by the steel tip of the shoes they seemed to be wearing.

More kicks came, hitting everywhere on her body. Evelyn felt helpless, and in her pain she couldn't think at all.

"Stoppen Sie sofort!" she heard a voice calling. "Verlassen Sie, bevor ich die Polizei anrufe!" the voice called, and the guys said something and the kicking stopped. Evelyn heard footsteps running away from her, and footsteps coming closer. She was lying in a pool of dark blood, mostly from her head, and she couldn't move. Every inch of her body hurt.

"Are you alright?" she heard another voice ask, just before she passed out.

* * *

Laura stared at the blank TV, a sad sigh escaping her lips. The things others would do just because someone was different. Laura herself had a friend who was gay, and a couple of years back he had been assaulted by a gang of guys who'd thought it was disgusting. She felt for the young woman in the cell.

She also noticed the radical difference. Whenever this 'Eva' seemed to be there, Evelyn was happy, bubbly even, and it just seemed as though she could never be unhappy as long as someone was nearby. But whenever 'Eva' wasn't there… Evelyn was crawled up in a corner, silent, near invisible.

But Evelyn Dahl was no different from the other she met in her daily life, her work, was she?

Laura shrugged and put in the next tape.

* * *

Evelyn opened her eyes suddenly and sat up with a bang. There had been a large piece of wood in the way. She had banged her head into it. The throbbing made her dizzy, but she tried to focus her gaze on the environment around her. A small cot-like bed was underneath her, which meant she as lying in it. Another cot-like bed was above her, and one of the wooden bars going across the bed was what Evelyn had hit her head in.

"Where am I?" she wondered out loud, not expecting an answer. She managed to stand up, amazed at how quickly the pain seemed to fade. The memories of what had happened came back to her. She had been beaten up quite badly. She looked at her body, even poked it a bit. No signs of any bruises or anything of the sort. How odd. She was actually quite sure those men had broken some of her bones, but she could move perfectly fine. She distinctly remembered her ribs being broken, but when she felt the side of her chest, it seemed perfectly fine.

Surely she couldn't have been out for that long?

She was wearing different clothes, a large shirt; she guessed it was brown, and dark pants. Her head began spinning, and she had to sit down again. Once she sat down, she decided to lie down instead. The floor was hard to lie on.

"So sind Sie wach?" a voice asked from the doorway. Evelyn didn't sit up, but mumbled, "I don't speak that much German."

The voice laughed. "So you are awake, I asked." Evelyn thought for a moment. "Naw, I think I'm sleepwalking."

The voice laughed again. It was a nice voice, a friendly and warm voice. It was a very cuddly voice, she felt. She hoped it belonged to an equally nice, warm and friendly man. If he was cuddly, that was a plus in the side. Especially if he was cute.

"What's your name?" the voice asked, and Evelyn heard footsteps. "Evelyn," she whispered, pushing herself up into sitting position. The man's legs came in her field of vision. He had dark skin, according to his legs, but it looked like something else. It didn't look like skin, covering his legs. It looked a lot softer.

She carefully reached out her hand to touch his leg, and found it very soft, like a small layer of fur covering it. The man jumped backward, very agile, and landed in a crouched position as many feet away as the small room allowed. Evelyn tilted her head when she saw what he looked like as a whole.

On each foot he had only two toes, something her mind seemingly had ignored when his legs had been in front of her. Behind him swooshed a long, thin tail. His hands had three fingers each, or two fingers and what could be counted as a thumb. He had pointed ears, longish, curly, black hair and light-colored eyes. His features were soft, but still firm.

"Hey," Evelyn said with a smile. "Are you a mutant?" she asked bluntly. The man looked at her with a confused face. Then he nodded.

"Cool!" Evelyn exclaimed. "I've never met another one before!" he still looked confused. "Oh, surely you've noticed the whole, ah, blue thing?" Evelyn smiled widely and got up to her legs to walk closer to the man.

"What's your name?" she asked, her curiosity spiked. "Kurt Wagner," he said. When he spoke, Evelyn noticed he had fangs. "Evelyn Dahl," she said, holding out her hand. He took it in his three-fingered one clumsily, as though unused to the action.

"You're all healed," he said, waving his hand. Evelyn smiled. "Yeah, isn't it odd? I don't know why. Maybe it comes with the blue." She sat down on the floor again, tapping beside her to indicate for Kurt to sit down. He did, with his knees drawn up and sitting more on his toes than his butt.

"So, ah, where am I?" Evelyn asked carefully, staring at him. He was still looking oddly at her, as though he hadn't expected her to be all friendly with him the first thing she did. So what, he had a bit of a different appearance? So did she, and hell, hers was a bit worse. She couldn't walk outside because she was blue.

But that was nothing that would keep the smile of her face, Evelyn decided. Not now, and not ever.

* * *

"You adapt quickly to your surroundings, don't you?"

"Yes, I do," Evelyn said. "It's… I don't know."

"It's a strong quality."

"Yes, and see where it's landed me. In an isolation cell, talking to a woman I can't even see."

Eva laughed. "Less thinking, more talking, Evelyn."

* * *

The circus had an unpronounceable name, so Evelyn never really bothered to learn it. She agreed to stay for a little while, but ended up being such a great help backstage and in the kitchen that they all wanted her to stay.

About four months after she had arrived, a group of young people at the circus had decided to go out. They were in Paris and it was winter, which meant (Evelyn had experienced it with her parents when she was much younger) that everything was beautiful because of the snow.

Evelyn heard her new friends calling good-bye, and sank down into her cot-like bed. She shared trailer with Kurt, and they had grown rather close as they sometimes were up half the night talking. Kurt was an acrobat, and he was great at it. Evelyn could sit in the audience seats and just stare when he was practicing. He had an impeccable sense of balance.

"Hi, Evelyn," Kurt's voice said from the door. Evelyn's trail of thoughts ended, and the pretty image of Kurt in his tight outfit swinging from a trapeze abruptly faded away. She blushed and smiled. "Hey, Kurt… Ah, why aren't you with the others?"

Kurt looked at her like she was stupid. "Are you kidding? The way I look? No way." He sat down next to her on the cot. Evelyn raised an eyebrow. "What? Come on, you could just hide under a hat and pull on some gloves, and no one would know the difference. I mean, you should take your chances."

Kurt stared at her still. "You have got to be kidding me."

"No, seriously. Why don't you go, I'm sure you could still catch up. Go and have fun." There was a hint of bitterness in her tone, even though a smile was on her lips. She missed being able to go out and meet people. Evelyn was a social person after all.

"Evelyn," Kurt said seriously, and Evelyn realized that was one of those moments when you could really tell Kurt was eighteen and Evelyn was only close to fifteen. "Open your eyes. I can't go out. I'm-"

"Wasting your time, Kurt! You should be out having fun; at least you _can_ hide your mutated appearance. It's just ears, tail, hand and toes!" Evelyn half screamed at her friend. She was taking out her frustration about being locked up on him, and unfairly so, she knew it. But she couldn't help it.

"What are you, blind!" Kurt exclaimed loudly, waving his hands and standing up. "I'm blue and fuzzy!"

Evelyn blinked and stared. Oh crap, she'd thought wrong for all this time. She'd thought he was just dark-skinned, because in her eyes he looked dark blue, which meant…

…That he really was dark blue. Evelyn blushed and looked down, stuttering incoherently. "I'm sorry," she managed, and Kurt sighed and sat down again. "Evi, what is it?"

"I can't – really – see." Evelyn whispered, avoiding his eyes. "I – something went wrong when I got my powers, and I'm kind of like color blind. I only see shades of blue, and like, purplish colors. I thought you were just dark."

Kurt placed his hand under Evelyn's cheek and lifted her head up so they saw each other in the eyes. "Evelyn, it's nothing to be ashamed of. And I'm sorry, and I forgive you. Ok?"

Evelyn smiled. "Ok." Then she wrapped her arms around him tightly. He gently placed his arms around her as well. Two best friends, hugging in the middle of a snowy Paris, and for that moment, there was no such thing as anti-mutant groups or fear or hatred. There was just the two of them.

And that was the way it was going to be for a long time.


	6. Chapter 5

Hey. My computer works again so I can access my writings and as a celebration of such, I publish this. x3  
Yeah yeah. Whatever. It keeps on going. There are another ten chapters (appr.) before the end of this so...  
I don't know.

* * *

"Evi? Do you believe in God?"

"Yeah. I'm raised catholic, you know. I think I believe at least. I mean, something had to have brought us together."

A year had passed, a year became two, and despite the circus struggling, it was still traveling along Europe.

"I think you're right. I wonder what He has in store for us."

"Yeah. Perhaps we can ask him one day, you know? Just climb up to the sky and knock on the gate to heaven and say, 'Hey, we wanna talk to God, could we book an appointment?'"

Two years became three, and Evelyn was seventeen. Kurt was still four years older, though Evelyn still seemed to cling on to fourteen in her mind. They were close, very close. So much closer than just best friends. Nothing romantic had ever happened between them though, it just wasn't right, or meant to be. They were meant to be friends.

"Yeah, and then maybe we can ask him something else, like, what's the meaning of life, or-"

"Why isn't chocolate the national dish of the world? Or what size in shoes he has, or what his favorite color is. I always did wonder."

The circus was struggling really badly the summer after Evelyn turned seventeen. A couple of Americans had showed an interest in buying the circus and it's people, but that would mean touring America instead of Europe. The whole troupe loved Europe.

"Evi?"

"Uh-huh Kurt?"

"I overheard Margali talking on the phone the other day. You know, the one the Americans gave her?"

"Yeah?"

"I think she's taking their offer."

"No!"

Evelyn was lying in her cot, staring at the bottom of Kurt's. She couldn't imagine the circus being sold. She could definitely not imagine her following the circus if it moved to America.

Although she did miss the States, and the wonderful, wonderful language that was English. She did miss the fast food restaurants, going out on a crowded street, all the people and everything that happened…

She knew she was probably glorifying a little, but all memories she had of America were blurry from years of different experiences and all of them were from a time long, long ago, before she was blue and electrified.

"I saw them talking the other day," Kurt continued, carefully. "They were discussing certain members… And I think, what to do and change. It was some big plan they had." He paused, unsure of how to continue. Evelyn was lying quiet, waiting for him to finish. "I heard them saying something about a freak show."

Evelyn sat up quickly, too quickly, and banged her head into the cot above. She let out a string of Swedish curses and rolled out on to the floor, banging her knee in to the edge of the cot and her elbow on the floor. The pretty bangs were followed by a much longer string of Swedish curses. Then she stood up, feeling the world spin around her for a few seconds.

All the while, Kurt couldn't resist the urge to laugh at her little show. She did half of it at least nearly on purpose, because it was her strong belief that laughter was indeed the best medicine. She would go out of her ways to embarrass herself, just to entertain others, just to get laughter or even a smile out of someone.

"A what-show? A FREAK SHOW? You've got to be kidding me." She waved her arms in an exaggerated manner. "What're they gonna put in it? Over-grown, American lawyers on computers? Germany'll love it."

Kurt looked away and quietly whispered, "You and me."

For once, Evelyn was speechless. She couldn't think of anything smart or funny to say. There was nothing funny about the idea of being put into a freak show. Evelyn felt odd, a feeling she hadn't felt in years. She felt angry.

"But, it's not sure she's selling the circus, right? Right?"

Kurt sighed and looked down at the floor. He was sad, and he knew things Evelyn didn't. The biggest reason for that was that Evelyn was seventeen and Kurt twenty-one.

"She can't keep the circus, Evelyn. You know that just as well as I do. She can't afford it, and she won't take your money, you know that as well. She's already signed the papers."

Evelyn stared at him. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She was outraged. Then she suddenly grinned and bounced over to the bed again, took the clothes lying on it and stuffed them into her bag. Then she bounced over to the closet where both she and Kurt had their clothes and took out them as well.

"Evi? What are you doing?" Kurt asked, his tail swishing behind him as he jumped down, crouching on the floor, staring at her with his yellow eyes. Evelyn smiled and kept stuffing her things down the bag.

"Kurt, you too. Start packing. You're coming with me."

"Coming with you where?" Kurt asked, standing up.

Evelyn's smile grew. "We're going to America."

---------------------

Time passed without real notice. Evelyn had lost track a long time ago, telling her tale night and day as she woke up and Eva was there to listen. Telling Eva everything, every little detail. It was like suddenly she remembered everything with an amazing sense of detail, every moment of her life.

Eva listened but still wouldn't show herself, hiding in the shadows.

Days and nights had melted into one single, fluent thing – time felt unnecessary. Evelyn didn't know if it had been months since her sentence or years.

In fact, it had been two and a half years. Nearly three years of solitude. Or, actually, it wasn't solitude; she had Eva.

The sentence had been clear and still was; death by the electric chair. There was such a lovely irony about it; she would take her own life without taking her own life. She deserved it.

"Stop thinking, Evelyn," cooed the voice from the shadows.

"Why?"

"Because if you're thinking you can't tell me more…"

-------------------

"Kurt! Bamf us in!"

"Nein, Evelyn, it's too dangerous, and it's illegal!"

"We have paid for tickets, we just can't go onboard, and you know that as well as I do!"

"Evelyn, I don't know where I'm going, I might-"

"Oh shush, you're such a scaredy-cat. Just take us out onto the field, you see, just by the wheels?"

Kurt nodded and put his arms around Evelyn, and then he teleported them both out on the airfield.

Even though Evelyn had actually booked two plane tickets, the fact was that neither of them would be able to get on the plane without being recognized as mutants. They would have to take off their coats in the customs, and then they would both be doomed. The likelihood of them finding a pro-mutant guard were about as big as Harry McKenzie calling her and saying, "Bluebird, come back home, we miss you."

They appeared a moment later out on the airfield, right underneath the plane that was going to Boston. Evelyn grinned and spun around. "I've always wondered what it's like to be underneath an airplane. Now come on, let's find where they put in the luggage."

They teleported into the luggage compartment, where all the bags and suitcases where already placed. Evelyn stared around her in the dark, before focusing electricity to her hand and creating a flashlight for them.

"Well, isn't this cozy?" she asked happily.

Kurt shrugged and sat down. Evelyn looked at him with a smile. She needed to be happy, he needed her to be happy.

"C'mere, Kurtsie. What's wrong?" she sat down and crawled over to him, hugging him tight. He whispered something and Evelyn smiled compassionately. "I know, Kurt, I know. I'm going to miss it as well. But think of it as a great adventure! We're like the heroes in all those storied you read, the one's who head into the unknown and long for action and cool missions and," she put her hand to her forehead in a dramatic fashion, throwing her head back, "rescuing damsels in distress."

Kurt actually smiled at that, but he still seemed down. Then he shook his head. "Perhaps some sleep, Kurt?"

"Ja," Kurt agreed. Then he bent forward and whispered something in German in her ear. She smiled and answered in English, "I know, Kurt, but now it's time for English. Now go to sleep. I'll hold you."

And so she crawled up behind him and he leaned down, placing his head on her stomach, and as the plane began its flight, she sang Kurt to sleep and watched over him the whole trip.

------------------

"You were close then?" Eva asked, sounding like an aunt. She reminded Evelyn about her aunt Lisa, on the Swedish side of the family. She'd always been a bit… odd?

"Yes, very. We are soul mates, Kurt and I. We could never be apart and we almost never were. I remember watching him when he was practicing… he's an acrobat you know. Every movement, so perfect, always so perfect, even when he made mistakes. He always made me happy. I miss him, I miss him a lot…"

"Evelyn… Sentiment is a waste of time."

Evelyn fell silent for a moment, before she whispered, "How old are you?"

"Never mind," Eva half-snarled. "Now go on, dear." Her voice seemed tense, and Evelyn felt shivers down her spine. But Eva was the only thing that stopped the gray. She had no choice; she had promised.

"Yes, Eva…"

---------------------

"Oh! Cute, cute, cute, ooooh," Evelyn stared after the young man walking past, bending over slightly to get a better view. "Cute butt!" she exclaimed.

"Evelyn!" Kurt hissed, grabbing her hand and pulling her along. Evelyn stared at him, and stopped. Kurt tugged, but she stood still.

"What was that for? It hurt!" she whined. Kurt gave her a look. "Could we not take this right now?" he said in German. Evelyn just kept staring at him and grinned.

"What's wrong? I didn't do anything!" she answered in English. Kurt pulled her closer to him, dragged her into an alley and bamfed them up on a desolate roof.

"Again, what was that for?" she asked, laughter in her voice.

"Don't you get it, Evelyn? Has the circus spoilt you too much? Don't you remember in what state you were when we found you? People aren't happy with people like us, Evelyn. Especially not in America."

"What do you mean, Kurt?" Evelyn asked innocently. She didn't understand, she hadn't done anything she wouldn't have done back at the circus, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing out of character. Still Kurt was giving her that awful look that told her she had done something bad.

"Evelyn, people don't like mutants. You and I, we are mutants. The best thing to do is not to bring attention to ourselves, like you did down there!"

"Oh," she laughed, "like you didn't when you 'ported us up here!"

"I hid, didn't I?" Kurt defended himself. "You'd probably have used your powers in the middle of the street!"

"Well," Evelyn said, still smiling, "Maybe I don't want to hide then. Maybe I'm willing to take the crap, until they realize that I'm not going to give up, I'm not going to hide!"

"But I can't do that, Evelyn!" Kurt yelled. Evelyn stopped smiling and stared at him, wide-eyed. Kurt sighed and looked down at the street below, where the "ordinary" people were walking. "I can't do that, Evelyn. I can't heal like you can, I'm not as brave as you are, I'm not as proud as you are. I can't be. You didn't see yourself when we found you, Evelyn. I'm not like you." He sounded nearly ashamed.

Evelyn walked up to him, putting her arms around him. "No one's ever wanted you to be, Kurt. I'm sorry. I'll protect you!" she said with a grin, staring up at him. "I'll make sure no one will hurt you. I'm sorry, Kurt. I'll be more careful from now on."

---------------------

"_I'm proud of being who I am._"

Laura stared at the VCR. Except for the young woman, there was nothing, and yet she kept speaking out loud. There was silence for a while, and then, "_Of course. But I stood up against it._"

Laura paused the VCR and closed her eyes for a moment. Ancient things, but she didn't have anything else. She was grown up on the VCR and didn't want DVD's or anything newer. She wasn't sure why she kept on with Evelyn's story; the young woman's time as Laura's client was far since over, but she wanted to know… somewhere she hoped to find out the answer, the motive.

She rubbed her eyes. It was late and she should be heading to bed. But who really had time to sleep? She unpaused the video and for a swift moment, Laura saw something else on the screen, a small, wavering shape. Her eyes widened and she quickly rewinded, but then there was nothing.

Laura shook her head; she was probably just tired. Maybe she should go to bed after all.

---------------------

The room church slowly faded into view. The old, abandoned church that Kurt had decided fit for staying in. He said God would watch over them. Evelyn had only smiled and silently agreed.

However, after last night, neither of them were God's best children. She had managed to convince Kurt to come with her out to a New Year's party she had heard about. She'd been invited by a cute guy in the line when she was shopping. He had told her she would fit right in, and that he loved her facial glitter, and wondered where she had bought the blue blush.

She had told him she was part of a group who dressed up oddly for reactions. He had bought it too.

So, the both of them had gone, or Evelyn had managed to drag Kurt with her. There had been alcohol. Lots of it. Half of what they had drunk had probably been spiced with God-knows-what. God himself probably didn't even want to know what.

They had gotten shit-wasted, enough for Kurt to ignore the fact that Evelyn was underage and enough to ignore the fact that he was blue. He had found some girl, then some other girl, and then, to Evelyn's great surprise, he'd found a guy to make out with – and Evelyn didn't want to know what else.

She had met the cute guy again, but nothing really happened. Evelyn hadn't liked the way he looked when he was wasted. So, finding Kurt in the arms of a cute girl, she had dragged him away and they had gone back to the church.

Unfortunately, both of them had been really, really drunk. Stuff had happened.

Evelyn stared up at the ceiling, wondering if the church always had been so cold. Or perhaps that was only because she was lying naked under a thin cover? She shrugged to herself, waiting for the world to stop spinning a little. She reached over to the side, felt soft, furry skin, and reached to the other side and found her bag. She took out a battery and let it recharge her a little.

"That got rid of the head ache at least." She mumbled and got up, not bothering to cover herself up. If anyone else was there, they would have to suit themselves for seeing her body. She found her clothes and quickly got dressed.

She had gotten a taste of partying yesterday, being shared with guy after guy, with some girls thrown in here and there, and now she wanted more. She wanted more guys, more parties, more blinking lights and deafening music. She wanted more.

And mostly, she needed out. She couldn't stay cooped up in the church anymore. She was beginning to get sick of staying in that one place. She needed something new, some action and excitement.

"Kurt?" she asked as she grabbed her stuff, what wasn't constantly in her bag. She didn't have much at all, just the basics. "Kurt, wake up."

Kurt stirred, and Evelyn grinned. He was so adorable. She couldn't believe what they had done that night, but she knew there wouldn't be more. They had been drunk, and neither of them had romantic feelings for each other. "Kurt, get up. I'm leaving."

"Was?" he asked, sounding tired, confused, and hung over.

"I'm leaving." She repeated, smiling down at Kurt. He sat up and stared around him for about a minute before he realized he was naked. His eyes went wide and Evelyn shook her head. "I'm leaving."

"You're… what? Where?"

"I don't know. I just, can't stay." Kurt stood up; the cover wrapped around him, and began searching for his clothes. Evelyn giggled as he bounced around, trying to get his boxers on while still holding the blanket. She walked up to him, put her hand on his arm, and looked at him. He looked her in the eyes; she smiled, and reached up to give him a kiss on the cheek. His cheek was warm and soft, and Evelyn thought for a moment that she would miss Kurt's soft fur to sleep on. Then she turned around, swung the backpack over her shoulder and walked out of the church.

"Evelyn..?"

----------------------

"Evelyn?"

Evelyn stared up at the ceiling. So many memories, so many emotions. Yet she always had the smile on her lips, always. She was never going to see him again; then again, she didn't deserve to see him – or any of them for that matter – again.

"Evelyn?"

"I wonder if he misses me still… I wonder if he thinks of me…"

"What are you talking about, Evelyn?"

"I wonder if he has someone new by now…"

---------------------

The night was dark and foggy. It was January in Miami. The fog was so thick you could barely see five feet in front of you. In the middle of this fog, Evelyn was skipping merrily along the road, acting as her own flashlight.

No one else would be out, not at this hour. It was getting close to midnight, Evelyn guessed, but she really had no idea. She hadn't met anyone at all the whole evening, and she had been walking for several hours. Just walking without any specific goal, trying to figure out where to sleep that night. If she'd sleep any at all.

However, the darkness was scaring her a little, as was the fog. It was hard enough to see as it was. The silence was making her skin crawl, she needed noise, something to happen.

She didn't notice the puddle on the road. Not until she slipped and expected to lie on the ground.

But she didn't.

"Allo, cheri." A charming voice whispered, and strong arms helped her to stand up again. "Gotta be careful, late at night when it be rainin'." He said. Evelyn looked up at him – he was a lot taller than her – and saw he was smirking. She remembered she wasn't wearing her hood, her hands weren't covered and her hair was particularly blue tonight.

She took a few steps back and stared at the man. "What wrong, cheri? Cat got you' tongue?" his voice was heavily accented, southern, New Orleans-French maybe. He laughed. Evelyn stared at him.

He was tall, much taller than Evelyn, but it was too dark for her to make an estimate. He wore a long, beige-colored trench coat and a black hat covered his eyes. He had a stubble, she saw that. Broad shoulders, but more than that she couldn't tell because of the coat.

"Hi," she managed, unsure of what else there was to say. _A strange man just caught you and kept you from falling down and cracking your scull open. Figure something out._

"Thanks, I suppose," she said and smiled, remembering that she was probably glowing because she was blushing. She tried to focus the electricity around some other part of her body, like her stomach, or her big toe. That worked, or at least she hoped it did.

"No problem, cheri. Just be doin' what any man would be doin' for a pretty lady, like you."

"Oh, so if I'd have been ugly you wouldn't have caught me?" she asked with a chuckle.

"No, cheri, didn't say that. Just, ah, cheri, trying to give you a compliment here! Cut poor ol' Remy some slack!"

"Just joking. Now, I've gotta be going I suppose… Have to find somewhere to sleep, you know?"

"I could offer you somewhere, cheri."

"Sweet, but I don't even know your name. Besides, there are matters that kind of… complicate things."

"Je suis Remy LeBeau. Et tu, belle mademoiselle?"

"I'm Evelyn Dahl, but as I said, there are matters-"

"If li'l miss Evelyn be talkin' 'bout de fact dat she be a mutant," his voice was so gorgeous, so irresistible. And the way he pronounced her name… Evelyn wanted to melt. "Den Remy already knows. It be no problem, cheri."

He lifted a hand and removed his hat. Semi-long locks of hair fell down, hanging elegantly into his eyes. Evelyn guessed it was brown, it seemed like it. He stared at her and smirked, and as she stared into his eyes she noticed something slightly odd about them.

In her blue haze, his eyes seemed purple. Purple could only mean one thing.

His eyes were red.


	7. Chapter 6

Wow, long time no read, heh. Well, I'm right now sitting and fiddling and trying to come up with letters to put together into words to put together into sentences to finish off the tenth chapter. Only a page and a half or so more, then it'll be finished. I've been, for reasons unknown to me, writing a lot less than I used to and I've been drawing more, I produce about one drawing per day, if you want to see go to my homepage on my profile, that's a link to my deviantArt. My guess is that because my computer broke about six months ago, I got out of the loop on writing. Eh, mostly because about a month after my compie broke, that laptop I was using as a replacement broke too. Then there was nowhere comfortable to write.  
Anywho, since I'm such a nice omnipotent being I give you this.

Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men and if I did I would be a very happy person. And... that's not really the truth xP But whatever! read! and comment, pwetty pwease? Comments make me write quicker!

* * *

"So, you're saying it was all their fault?"

"Oui. Poor Remy innocent."

Evelyn giggled and sat down in a very comfortable leather armchair. The apartment was very fancy, and Remy had claimed it belonged to a friend of his. Something about that seemed very off to the near eighteen-year-old woman, but she shrugged it off. If Remy turned out to be a complete perv out after only one thing, she'd electrocute him.

"So," Remy called from the kitchen. "You be wantin' something to eat? We have… Ooooh, not very much, Remy's afraid," he sounded terribly disappointed.

"Just surprise me then," she called back. "I'm not peckish when it comes to food, as long as its not fried and then dipped in grease, with a side of grease. You know?"

"Remy got de point, no-go on de grease-o." He called. Evelyn giggled and Remy came back out. His trench coat hung in the hall and his button-up shirt seemed to have been abandoned in the kitchen. All he was wearing was a tight, black tank top and baggy, dark jeans. "What?" he asked as she stared.

"Your accent," she managed breathlessly. She'd always been weak to handsome men with nice muscles. And Remy's arms were very nice indeed. "It's…" she pulled herself together and smiled, wishing she didn't look like a blue wreck, "Adorable," she said cheerfully.

Remy flashed her a smile and winked. "Remy knows." Then he returned to the kitchen, chuckling.

Evelyn got up and went over to the bathroom. She figured it out because of the pretty sign on the door. She looked incredibly pale, she noticed. Only a powder blue color rested on her cheeks. Her hair was messy and a dark, dark blue. Her eyes at least were full of life.

She found a hairbrush and managed to untangle most of the chaotic mess on her head. She removed her large sweatshirt and wondered what she thought when she bought the shirt that she wore under. It made her look so tiny, and she had no idea what color it really was. In her eyes, it looked good. She thought it seemed to be some sort of off white, but it might as well have been pale beige or yellow.

At least the push-up made it look like she had something like a chest.

She returned to the living room, listening to the noises from the kitchen. She noticed, to her joy, a stereo in a corner. She skipped over to it, studying the cd's in the shelf next to it.

She found an old one she recognized, and put it in the player. The familiar beat brought back memories from when she was younger, and she smiled.

Remy stuck out his head from the kitchen. Evelyn met his eye, blushed and smiled. "Pretty color, cheri," Remy pointed out and Evelyn blushed even more. She wondered if her cheeks weren't totally glowing by now, and how awful it looked.

"Thanks," she said happily. Remy smirked and nodded into the kitchen. "Dinner be served, petite cheri. Remy knows it dun' be much, but Remy's friend didn't fill up de fridge 'fore he left."

Evelyn walked into the kitchen and saw two bowls of noodles with vegetables in. Remy seemed to fight a blush as he tried to explain, continuing on his previous statement, but Evelyn tuned him out. There were two glasses of a purplish-looking liquid, which meant it was red, assumedly wine. The room (or table) was lit up by a number of candles on the table.

"Oh you smooth-talker you. Shush, it's perfectly fine." She turned around and stretched up on her toes to give him a kiss on the cheek.

Then she bounced over to the table and sat down like nothing had happened.

To her it was nothing. She was an impulsive person and was much for physical contact. She could hug strangers on the street sometimes, because they looked like they needed a hug.

Remy sat down as Evelyn was playing with the wine, poking the glass lightly with her fork.

"Evelyn, Evelyn, ma cher," Remy tutted, laughter in his voice. "You drink dat. It be wine. I hope you dun mind red, dere was no other."

Evelyn looked at him through the glass, smiling at his distorted, purple face. "One, what makes you think I'm old enough to drink, and two, are you sure it's wine? Sure it's not blood?"

Remy looked a bit taken aback for a moment, but then he smiled charmingly. "You dun be old enough? Ooooh, you certainly look it. Or, perhaps not over twenty, but Remy neva' really cared."

"As for de wine," he smirked, "You'll just have to taste, dun' you, cheri?"

Evelyn smirked. "Cheers then. For a fairly pleasant day, and perhaps a fairly pleasant friendship?"

"Sounds good to Remy." They raised their glasses and Evelyn brought it to her lip, taking a sip. It was sweet wine and felt pleasant on her tongue.

Evelyn giggled. "Was Remy right? You a red wine person?" Evelyn nodded.

The conversation went on through the "dinner" about everything and nothing. After, they moved to the living room and sat down in the comfortable couch. They had opened a second bottle of wine, and Evelyn was a bit giggly. Remy had switched cd's, so there was a soft music in the background.

That was when Evelyn decided to confront him.

"This isn't your friend's apartment, is it?"

Remy looked at her, surprised. "Non, cheri," he answered.

"At least you're honest. I don't really care though. Real cute of you to be stealing an apartment to have somewhere for me to stay."

"Remy wouldn't be callin' it stealin', petite cher. More like, borrowin' without permission."

"How very quaint then." Evelyn giggled. The she began coughing. Remy moved closer and pulled her arms up in the air. His hand traveled discretely from her sides, and all the way over her arms in the process. "Clearin' de airways, cheri," he answered her questioning gaze.

Soon enough, she began breathing normally again. Remy's soft hands felt nice against her bare arms, and she discretely put her arms down and leaned slightly against him.

"LeBeau, did you say earlier?" she asked, and Remy nodded. "I recognize the name. Wasn't there like, a big clan a couple of years back, down in New Orleans with that name?"

Remy squirmed, but sat still. "Oui."

"Oh, so you're part of the clan!" Evelyn giggled. She had just found out exactly what she needed. "Cool. I've always wanted to be part of a clan. Okay, so maybe a clan of thieves wouldn't be my first choice, but -"

"Hush, cheri," Remy whispered and placed a finger over her lips.

Evelyn wasn't sure why what happened next really happened, but she turned around and face Remy for a moment, before she kissed him. If it was the wine and atmosphere or simply because Remy was a very sexy man and Evelyn a very impulsive person, she wasn't sure. But he returned the kiss with passion.

Hands began moving over skin, and after a while and a few well-whispered words from Evelyn, Remy lifted her up and carried her to a bedroom.

* * *

Evelyn giggled and rolled over on her back. The ceiling looked just the same as it usually did; black. Empty and void, just like parts of her mind. Someone had joked about that sometime.

"Evelyn, you're thinking again…"

* * *

Evelyn giggled and let her fingertips trace the muscles on Remy's chest. Remy stared at her, where she laid, childishly drawing in her mind.

She saw a couple of scars. Being the inquisitive person she was, she had to ask. "What's this one from?" she asked, pointing to one on his side. Remy looked and smiled.

"Remy was shot dere. He, ah, kinda got into some trouble back down in New Orleans. Dey not be too fond of him no more."

Evelyn smiled and nodded. "And this one?" she pointed to one on his shoulder.

"Remy be stabbed in a fight." He smiled at her curiosity. Evelyn looked over his body; she was sure she had seen another one.

"What about this one?" she asked, poking one on his thigh.

"Ooh, ooh. Ah remember dat one especially much. You see, a couple of years back, Remy was breakin' an entry, and dere he met un petite fille, and she went stabbin' him right dere. Cute little fille. Brave one too." Evelyn thought that sounded just as familiar as the name LeBeau. "Really? Tell me more."

"De house Remy and his boys were breakin' into belonged to some fancy ol' politician homme, and he be supposed to be out of de house for dat weekend. But what Remy didn' expect was their little petite left home alone. Oh, how old could she have been, nine, ten?"

"Thirteen," Evelyn said quietly with a grin. Remy looked confused. "She was thirteen, the little girl. She just looked a lot younger. She can still remember those scary red eyes; she sometimes still sees them in her dreams, in her nightmares."

"But, what do I know, I was just a little girl back then."

Remy looked very shocked.

"Evelyn McKenzie Dahl," Evelyn said with a wide smile. "Born the thirty-first of January, ah, some years ago. Grown up in New Orleans, abandoned by my parents three and a half years ago, they claimed I died in a drowning accident. I-"

"Wait," Remy exclaimed, sitting up. "You were thirteen? But - dat means you be only seventeen!"

"Actually, I'm eighteen in a week."

Remy threw the cover over her, covering his own vital parts with a pillow. "What! Oh, oh, girl should've said so, Remy be twenty-one!" Even though he looked horrified there was a hint of amusement in his eyes.

"Don't get your panties in a twist. Ah, you're not wearing anything, so just cool down, okay? I know it's difficult, I mean, you're so hot, but, uh… Yeah." Evelyn giggled confusedly and threw the cover off of her head. Her hair was very messy, very messy, but very cute. "I don't care, right? I think you're cute, in fact, I think you're gorgeous, and I think you seem like a great guy. And I like you, kinda. There was chemistry between us, don't you think?" she said bluntly. "Besides, I've had older boys than you."

Remy sat shocked after her blunt tirade, and Evelyn giggled. "You look cute when you don't have anything to say." Then she yawned and stretched out her petite body. "I'm tired." She took the cover over her and laid down on the edge of the bed.

A moment later, she sat up straight. "Underwear," she muttered, bending down and fishing up hers. She got them on in lightning speed and then grabbed her tank top and pulled that on as well. Remy was studying her movements; she could feel his eyes on her body.

She gave Remy a quick look and a smile, and then she lay down again and pulled the cover over her. One, two, three, four, five, she counted to herself, and that was how long it took before Remy sat up and found his own underwear.

Three, two, one, Evelyn counted, and then she felt Remy's arms hesitantly placing itself around her body, and then the heat of Remy's body against hers.

Dwelling in the serenity she felt from another person's body against her own, Evelyn smiled, and let herself fall asleep.

* * *

Laura tapped her fingers on the table next to her. Her colleagues were calling her obsessive and her boss was getting worried.

Perhaps she was obsessing, but there was something about the whole story that captivated her so. She wanted to hear the ending, like a small child and a long bedtime story. The tapes came in daily, and Evelyn kept talking to this other persona, Eva. She described every single detail as though it had happened the previous day, even though it was several years.

Laura could do nothing but suppose that captivity and isolation did that to one.

* * *

When Remy came into the kitchen the next morning, Evelyn was already very busy cooking. The whole kitchen smelled deliciously of pancakes. The TV was on and the sound was turned up loud so Evelyn could hear the news. So far there hadn't been anything interesting at all, and Evelyn entertained herself by humming lightly and dancing to the music in her head.

She hadn't dressed, but was prancing around in the tank top and her underwear. She had stolen Remy's button-up and had rolled up the sleeves, but she hadn't buttoned it. She felt ecstatic; it was ages since she cooked breakfast for someone, she hadn't done it since she left the circus.

Remy was a nice guy, she could feel it. They had talked about everything and nothing, on and off during the night, and they seemed to wake up around the same moments. They shared a love of music from New Orleans, as well as a love of cooking. It was so easy to talk to him; she could open up directly without any problem at all. It felt so right, and suddenly, she missed Kurt. She hadn't seen him or heard from him (not that she had tried to contact him either) since she left Boston and the church, three weeks earlier. After living together for three years in the circus, three weeks apart felt like ages.

Evelyn had needed to get out of there, she had felt suffocated, like something big was coming up and she was going to miss it. Like it was waiting for her, but wasn't going to wait for too long. She wasn't going to let her mutancy stop her from living.

Kurt hadn't had anything to say about it, and when she thought about it, it may have been a bit of a cruel way to leave. He had barely even been awake, and once he had awoken he must have been greeted by the most fantabulous hangover ever.

The news caught her attention as she elegantly flipped a pancake up in the air.

It landed less elegantly on the floor as she listened to the reporter.

"An attack on the White house took place this morning. Representatives are holding a press conference momentarily, where they perhaps will describe the perpetrator. Rumors have it to be a mutant. Over to the White house."

Evelyn peeked out into the living room and saw just as they switched to the press conference.

"A mutant attacked the White house, yes. This mutant left after him a knife, which he had used to cause harm to the President. He failed, luckily, because of a shot from one of our people. The knife held a small ribbon, saying 'Mutant freedom now'."

"How did you know it was a mutant?" a young reporter asked. Inexperienced.

"By two facts. One, it could vanish and reappear in a cloud of blue smoke. Two, it had a tail, fangs, yellow eyes, and it was completely blue."

The press conference disappeared and the reporter appeared with a serious smile.

"We have, from our sources, an exclusive footage from the White house security cameras. These images show the mutant entering the White house and attacking two guards."

The still photos appeared on the screen and Evelyn dropped the glass she'd been holding. It shattered by her feet, pieces flew everywhere, cutting her legs and feet, but she barely noticed.

On the TV-screen were pictures of Kurt.

There was no time for thinking. She forgot all about the pancakes and headed straight for the bedroom, half running. She bumped into Remy, who'd been watching as well, and was half-dressed, wearing only jeans since she had occupied his shirt.

"No time," Evelyn muttered. She found her pants and pulled them on, grabbed her long-sleeved and pulled it on as well. Then she quickly got on her boots, ignoring socks, grabbed her coat and left.

This all happened too fast for Remy to react.

* * *

"Eva, why can't I see you?"

"Because you aren't ready."

"Can't you just touch me?"

"No."

"If I reach out my hand, can you just… Touch my fingertips?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because you aren't finished with your life, Evelyn. Not yet…"

* * *

"Fuck!" Evelyn cursed as she read the boards. A train had just left for Boston, five minutes before she got there. The next one didn't leave until the next freaking day.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" she yelled, and people began staring at her. She paused for a moment, and then exclaimed "FUCK!" even louder. She had forgotten her bag with Remy.

She sunk down against a near-by wall. Her money, the little cash she had, was in that bag. As was her ATM card, her sketchpads, her mp3, clothes and photos. The few she had left.

"Fuck," she whispered and slid down against a wall. Usually she would be able to find something fun in the situation, something to brighten the moment. But she took a look at the negative facts; her best friend and non-romantical soul mate had tried to murder the president, she had left the apartment of a gorgeous, funny, smart, charming man, who now had all her stuff, she had no money, she was a blue mutant, and she was all alone.

She looked up to see if she could find something pretty to make her happy. A young couple was holding hands, but the woman was yelling at a small child. Discipline, yech. An old couple was sitting close to each other, sharing a newspaper. They began kissing. Ew, old people's porn!

A tall man in a trench coat with sunglasses on, looking suspiciously like Remy, holding a bag that looked suspiciously like hers… Wait. It was Remy and he was holding her bags!

She stood up, feeling a bit better. He saw her, smiled and waved, and then he walked over to her.

"You be forgettin' you' bag," Remy tutted with a smirk. "And cheri, Remy hasn't been hearin' dat much swearing since he left New Orleans and Mardi gras behind him."

Evelyn nearly sighed, but smiled instead. She had something to be happy for. "Well, the next train doesn't leave until tomorrow, and I really need to get back to Boston. But thanks, at least now I've got my stuff and my money. Right?" she gave him a mock-skeptic look, trying to hide her smile. Remy shrugged innocently, still smirking.

"All you' money be left, cheri. But ooooh, Remy can't stand for disappearin' undies."

She slapped him on the arm. "Perv!" she laughed. He chuckled.

"Seriously though, Remy could give you a ride. If you want to?"

"You gonna steal a car for my sake too?" Evelyn asked, still laughing.

Remy looked offended. "Non, cheri. Remy's got a car, and he almost feels offended." He began walking and Evelyn swung the bag over her shoulder and followed him. She glanced at her hands and saw that they seemed pale. That meant her face was pale as well, and whatever color they was would look like make-up.

She pulled down her hood and hurried up a bit so she could keep up with Remy's pace. They went out on the parking lot. Evelyn looked at the cars parked there, because Remy had stopped and looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Um," Evelyn muttered, grinning. Hey eyes fell on an ancient, rusty Volvo. "That one?"

"Oh, cheri. Now Remy actually be feelin' insulted. D'you really be thinkin' Remy would be drivin' such a heap?"

Evelyn giggled. "You should feel no need to compensate for yourself, right?"

"Touché." Remy admitted, but smirked. "But Remy be decidin' he needed a hot car to match de gorgeous body, non? Just like handbags and shoes. C'mere cheri and Remy'll show you."

"Here she be. Remy's pride and glory." A red sports car stood parked in the far end of the parking lot. Remy smirked. "What d'you think now den, cheri? Better dan a rusty ol' Volvo?"

"I don't know," Evelyn said with a grin. "You don't think it cuts against the blue?"


	8. Chapter 7

* * *

Just wanted to tell you all, I've finally gotten past the block and finished chapter ten. As celebration, I send you another chapter, already! I'm probably going to regret this when I get stuck on chapter eleven, but hey. That day that sorrow.  
Eh... Well, I don't really know what to say. Read well and keep on commenting. That's what really made me finish chapter ten.

I 3 you all

* * *

A light breeze ruffled the leaves on the trees, and tried to push some of Evelyn's curls. The breeze failed: it wasn't strong enough. It blew away to find something else to push. 

In the meantime, Evelyn was captivated by Remy's card tricks. She was awed and kept giggling and hiding behind the large neck of her polo so that Remy wouldn't see her blushing.

When Remy was finished, he did a mock bow, and Evelyn just kept giggling. "What can't you do with your hands?" she whispered and pulled the polo neck over her cheeks.

Remy smirked and pulled down the shirt. "What Remy dun be doin' wid his hands, ooooh, he be doin' wid his tongue," he whispered in her ear and kissed her cheek. Evelyn blushed more than ever when he pulled away.

"Oh, you're dirty," she said, then pulled up the polo neck again. Then she pulled it down temporarily to add, "Dirty with a cute accent."

Remy grinned suavely. "Remy knows, cheri. C'mere," he pulled her closer and pulled down the polo neck again to stroke her dark blue cheek. "You be so cute when you be blushin', ya know dat, cheri?" Evelyn blushed and shook her head vigorously.

"We should be goin'," she said with a grin before he could protest. Remy nodded, lifted her up and threw her over his shoulder, carrying her to the car. He had just put her down in the seat, they were both laughing because Evelyn had been screaming when he carried her, when a sudden and very painful ringing sounded in Evelyn's ears. The pain felt overwhelming, mind-numbing. It felt as though she was going to die, slowly and by the most torturous means.

Then, after what felt as a lifetime, just as suddenly as it had begun, the ringing stopped. Evelyn managed to sit up, only to bang her head on the seat. She had been lying on the floor of the car, curled up into a tiny ball. She got up onto the seat, her limbs felt heavy; Remy was standing up, leaned against the car door, gripping the edge so hard his knuckled were white.

Evelyn stared at him with her big eyes. His breathing was harsh and strained; he too had felt the pain. He looked up, his hair falling into his eyes, and tried for a smile. Evelyn smiled back, recovering more quickly then him. "What be dat?" he whispered, and Evelyn shrugged, pulling up a battery from her pocket.

"I have no idea," she said, smiling. "But hey, see it on the bright side, we're alive, aren't we?"

"Felt like I was dyin'," Remy muttered, and looked her straight in the eyes. He was pale, but he managed to smile. "Yeah," Evelyn answered. Then she put her hand on his cheek and kissed him. They kissed for long, and somehow it felt as though an eternity passed, like "forever" was created for that moment.

When they pulled apart, Evelyn grinned. "Come on, now. It was only… Well, I don't know what it was, but, well, come on. We're alive!"

Remy smiled again, and even though Evelyn saw in his eyes that he couldn't let go of it as easily, she smiled back. "Come on, let's go, before we get another one of those! Don't think about it too much, I'm sure the answer will come anyway."

Remy nodded and said nothing, and got into the car as well.

* * *

"What did actually happen?" 

"I am not sure. I never got it. Something to do with some guy who wanted to take over the world. I dunno."

"Continue, Evelyn. Do continue."

* * *

"Well, here it is!" 

A day and a half later, Evelyn and Remy arrived outside the abandoned church in which Kurt had chosen to stay. Remy stood behind while Evelyn skipped up to the door and opened it.

"Hello?" her small, childish voice echoed through the church. Evelyn's skipping followed, the light steps echoing as well.

"Hello-o-o?" she called. "Anyone home?" the candles, which were usually alight, had burned down, leaving nothing but a waxy mess. Evelyn frowned upon this; Kurt usually kept the church at a rather high level of maintenance, or, as high as he could.

"Kurt?" Evelyn called out again. "Kurt are you in here?"

"Dere dun seem to be no one home," Remy stated and put his hand on her shoulder. Evelyn frowned, although a smile still played on her lips.

"Where could he be? There's not even a note!" She shook her head; the mass of curls playing around her head. "Well, I'll figure it out."

* * *

"How are you feeling, Evelyn?" 

"Dizzy. Like something is leaving me."

"Good…"

"What was that, Eva?"

"Nothing, little one. Nothing at all…"

* * *

"You know that thing we heard on the radio?" 

"What thing, cheri?"

Evelyn was lying in Remy's lap, watching the clear, starry sky. It was slightly chilly, Evelyn supposed, because all the hairs on Remy's arms were standing up. They were lying in the backseat of Remy's car, a blanket lain over them and Remy's arm above it in a protective manner.

Five days had passed since Boston. That meant they had known each other for a week, and yet it felt like a lifetime.

"The thing, about that school, you know?"

"De Xavier Institute?"

"Yeah."

They had been driving mindlessly around the New York state area. They had no specific goal; Evelyn wanted to find Kurt before the 31st, and she finally had an idea of where to look.

"Do you remember the address?"

"Sorta," Remy mumbled into her hair. He seemed hesitant. "I know where it be."

"Could you take me there?"

Remy moved slightly underneath her, and she gently kissed his arm. "I just got a feeling that it would help me find Kurt."

"Aw, cheri. You really be caring for de blue fuzzy one, dun you?"

"Yepp. I love him as though he were my big brother, although that would be kind of, like, ew."

"How so?"

"Because I slept with him on New Years."

Remy fell silent and Evelyn assumed he was slightly shocked. It was that kind of silence. Evelyn grinned.

"We were both really, really drunk. I left the next morning. Maybe that was a bit mean?" she pondered with a smile, hugging the arm that held her.

"Remy can take you to dat area," Remy said, sounding sad. "But he cannot come wid you dere. No can do, cherie," he said before she could ask.

"But… I'd miss you so terribly!" she whispered and rolled over so she was facing him, lying stomach on stomach. "I really would," she whispered to his chest, but smiled happily.

"Evi, I... I can't follow you." Remy smiled and stroked her hair. "But Remy'll be missin' you, cherie, you be sure of dat. He'll especially be missin' your cheer."

She grinned. "Like when you _finally_ managed to actually drive past that old lady?"

"Oui."

Evelyn smiled and crawled higher up on his chest, gently kissing his lips. He put his hands on the small of her back and the kiss deepened.

They broke it off a few minutes later and Evelyn just smiled. "I'll even leave you my number!"

* * *

"Evelyn? You are so quiet." 

"Hm?"

"So quiet. Why? You have barely spoken a word for some time now."

"I don't know. I'm thinking about Remy, I suppose."

"What have I said about thinking?"

"Oh, right. Of course, Eva."

* * *

"Here be where Remy must be leavin' you, cheri." 

Remy had parked haphazardly on the side of the road. The sky was dark; it had taken them another day to drive to this spot.

"Remy be sorry for havin' to leave you off like dis, cheri. He really is. I wish dere was something – but dere isn't."

Evelyn nodded and smiled, her head tilted to the side and her eyes staring at him adoringly.

"It be 'bout a mile down de road – I'm pretty sure you can handle you'self, non? I mean, again, I be really sorry, but -"

Evelyn giggled and put her arms around his chest, hugging him tightly. "You're so adorable when you're like this. I thought that already a week ago, when you were making dinner and, you were so cute because you were trying to explain everything. It's ok; I'm a big girl. I'm eighteen tomorrow!"

"Dun remind me. Oh, and Remy has something for you… Just a little somethin', an early present slash good-bye gift." He pulled a small box out of his pocket. Evelyn squealed excitedly and giggled.

"For me?"

Remy nodded and handed her the gift. Evelyn carefully opened the box; inside was a small charm on a pretty, silver chain. The charm was a small butterfly; silver with light and dark purple wings. Evelyn squealed in delight. "It's so pretty!"

"Oui, de necklace be pretty, which fits a pretty girl. But Remy be telling you, cheri, not even de stars up on de big blue be as pretty as you, oh no. Remy did wish he could've given you a star, but you already had so many in your eyes... Remy know, he a real charmer." He gave her a light kiss on the forehead. "I really will miss you, Evelyn. I really will."

"I'll call you every day!"

"Not unless I be callin' you first."

She smiled and Remy took the necklace out of the box, and Evelyn pulled together her hair so he could put it around her neck. It hung perfectly just above the line of her tank top, and she put her fingers on top of it.

Remy then surprised her by lifting her up in his arms and kissing her gently on the lips. The kiss was another one of those perfect kisses, the ones that left Evelyn in a bit of a dazed state. She wanted more; but as he put her down and she stared after him as he got into the car and drove away, waving to her, she got an itsy-bitsy sad feeling that it would be a while before she got another one of those kisses.

She shook the feeling away and headed down the road, skipping merrily at the thought that she might meet Kurt, or at least some new people.

* * *

An hour later, she wasn't quite as sure. "I think I went wrong somewhere," she mumbled to herself. "What an adventure!" 

She fingered the charm around her neck, wondering what people would think if they saw her at that moment. Her long coat was in her bag, and she was wearing a jeans jacket over a dark tank top and sparkly jeans. It was January, and probably rather cold, but she didn't notice because the electricity kept her warm.

Just as she was about to consider turning back and walking from the beginning, she saw a large house through the trees. A large gate was not far up ahead, and she grinned. At least it was something to go by. She skipped toward it, for despite the late hour – it must have been well past midnight – she was full of energy and prepared for anything.

When she reached the gate, she saw a sign saying "The Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters", and that it was locked. She pondered for a moment, before she grinned. The space between the metal bars seemed to be just enough. She squeezed through her bag, and then squeezed herself through the space. It hurt a little bit, but she was small enough to get through.

She picked up the bag, and began walking toward the large mansion on the grounds. The grounds themselves were huge as well, but because of her childhood Evelyn remained unimpressed. Most of the many windows were dark, but a few had remained lit. Whether someone had forgotten to turn the lights off or someone actually was awake, Evelyn didn't know. She took up her cell phone; the small, digital numbers told her it was half past one.

Swinging her bag over her shoulder, she walked over the grass. There was a slight layer of snow, but thanks to her boots Evelyn didn't feel it. Halfway over, something happened that she didn't expect.

A sudden noise startled her; the loud noise of an alarm. Within seconds, a number of lights were turned on; in fact, the whole mansion seemed to light up.

Evelyn grinned. She hadn't expected quite such an entrance.

She noticed a red light blinking, and grinned. She walked closer, and when she was a few feet away, she held out her hand and took all the electricity from it. The bulb inside broke and the light went out. As did the lights in the house.

"Whoops," Evelyn whispered with a giggle. "I don't think they're gonna be happy."

Indeed, no. A group of about five people had excited the house and were coming toward her. They were all dressed in pretty, pretty pajamas. By the looks of it, at least three were male. One was bare-chested, and rather muscular. Another was wearing sunglasses, in the middle of the night! Almost as odd as she usually was then. A third one was huge, a very large man who seemed to have a problem with body hair. Or he was simply mutated. A fourth one was wearing a dress and had long, white hair. That was obviously a she. Evelyn glimpsed a fifth one behind them, but he seemed to be hiding.

"Um," Evelyn said carefully, with a shy grin on her lips. "Hello?"

"Who the hell are you?" the bare-chested man growled, taking up his fists. Evelyn's eyes widened slightly for a moment when three claws popped out of his knuckled. Then she giggled nervously.

"I'm sorry about the lights, it wasn't on purpose. I was only having some fun with the, er, red lamp. Didn't have as much control as I thought."

"Take it easy, Logan. She's only a child." Said the big hairy man. Evelyn glowered with a grin.

"Hey! I'm eighteen today!"

"Evelyn?"

Evelyn froze. The voice, the accent. The fifth one, who had been lurking on the darkness, stepped forward. Just as the bare-chested one, Logan, was about to say something, Evelyn squealed. "Kurtsie-poo!"

"What are you doing here?" Kurt asked, and Evelyn's grin widened until it kind of covered her whole face. "I'm looking for you! Didn't I tell you I was coming back for my birthday?"

"Nein!"

"Ah well, I thought it. Speaking of which, I can't even be gone for three weeks without you causing a riot! I saw what you did; it was all over the news! I couldn't help but wonder how you did it. And then, after I ran away from this gorgeous guy who then gave me a ride and oh, there's so much I want to tell you about, I go to Boston, to the church, nice pj's by the way, and you're not there! And you didn't even leave a note!"

"I'm sorry, but I wasn't exactly -"

"Sorry to break this party up," Logan growled, and Evelyn shifted her attention to him. "But you're breaking an entry."

"Yeah? I mean, where's the fun in knocking?"

"Kid, I don't appreciate -"

"I'm not a kid! Just 'cause I look like it! I'm eighteen today!"

"You're still a kid. Now look,"

The big, hairy man put a big, hairy hand on Logan's shoulder. "What Logan is trying to say, miss… Evelyn, is that you have awoken us in the middle of the night for something that could have waited until the morning."

"I like you. What's your name?"

"Hank McCoy."

"You're like, a doctor aren't you?"

"Why, yes,"

"Thought so. You sound all smart and stuff."

"... As I was saying, since you obviously seem to know Kurt,"

This time, Kurt interrupted. "Hank, this is the girl I was telling you about! The one I was missing!"

"Oh," Hank said, smiling. "Oh." Evelyn tilted her head to the side and smiled slightly as she saw gleaming white fangs in hairy Hank's smile. She got a sudden impulse, and decided to follow it.

She walked closer to hairy Hank and reached out her hand to touch his arm. It was soft, very soft. She let out a low "ooooh," and grinned. "You're soft!" She gasped and grinned as she realized something else. "And you're blue!" she squealed.

Logan and the white-haired lady seemed rather non-amused by the whole display, while the man with the glasses remained silent and passive.

"Miss Evelyn-"

"Please, not miss. Just Evelyn. Or Evi."

"Ok, Evelyn," Hank tried again, but Evelyn interrupted once more.

"Good, now that we're on first name basis I can call you Big Blue and Furry! BBF!" Evelyn jumped up and down a bit, her curls bouncing around her face, her big eyes staring innocently up at Hank.

Kurt sent Hank an apologetic smile and shrugged.

"What I was trying to say," Hank said, showing a lot of patience for the young girl. In fact he found her rather interesting and even amusing. "Is that perhaps you would care to stay here for the night? It's past two in the morning, and we're all very, very, tired." Logan glowered at him and Kurt seemed to grow more and more excited. "So we can take all the practical things in the morning, with the professor, and until then I am sure we have a guest room prepared -"

"No need!" Kurt yelled and grabbed hold of Evelyn and bamfed her away to his room before anyone could say another word.

* * *

The next morning, Evelyn bounced down to the kitchen, accompanied by a very tired Kurt. They had been up all night talking and laughing and being generally childish, and poor Kurt didn't have Evelyn regeneration skills. 

At the kitchen table sat Logan, and the white-haired lady was cooking breakfast.

"That's Logan," Kurt whispered, for even though he was tired he was still giddy about getting Evelyn back. "We also call him Wolverine." Evelyn frowned and giggled. "Wolverine? What kind of a name is that? It's like, a tiny animal!" She didn't say this very quietly, and Logan looked up at her in silent irritation. "Naw, I think, after what I saw of him yesterday, I'll call him…Badger!"

Logan coughed on the coffee he had just swallowed, and the white-haired lady tried to suffocate a giggle. She faced Evelyn with a smile. "I'm Ororo Munroe, or Storm."

"Hi-hi. What's up with all the odd names though?"

"They're nicknames given after our powers," Ororo explained. Logan still seemed unsure of what to say to his defense about being called a 'Badger'. "I control the weather. As for Logan, we're not quite sure."

"Badger!" Logan muttered under his breath. Kurt held back laughter, as Logan looked generally annoyed. "Badger!" he said again. "Badger!"

"Yeah," Evelyn giggled. "Badger. I think it fits you."

"I – you – Argh!" Logan grumbled, taking up his newspaper and hiding behind it, trying to make for an elegant getaway. Sadly, the newspaper was upside down. He grumbled even more as Evelyn began laughing and Kurt soon joined her. Ororo chuckled a little.

_Nice badger_, Evelyn thought._ I hope I can stay here._


	9. Chapter 8

Omgbbqflol

I'm updating? Yes! I'm updating! With two more chapters to write and two in stock, we're all 4 chapters left until everything will be answered with an epilogue. Or... well, yeah, everything. I think at least.

Ah... expect a looong rant when I publish chapter 12 because I have a lot to say. But that's a while from now, I'm aiming at another month or two before I'll be finished. But no more than that, I swear! I'll bust my ass off to finish this thing. It's been long enough.

Love to everyone who reviews! And cupcakes! Cupcakes!

* * *

"Yay! I've just gotten the best birthday present EVER!" Evelyn screamed with joy as she stepped out of the professor's office. Kurt grinned at her happiness and his eyes bore a curious look, yet he knew what Evelyn was happy about.

"He's letting you stay, Ja?" he asked, the grin not fading. He knew the answer. There was just such a joy in hearing it out loud.

"Uh-huh!"

Kurt squealed girlishly in delight and Evelyn joined him; then he lifted her up and hugged her and spun her around, both of them screaming with laughter, until Kurt tripped and they ended up on the floor, laughing like two insane people.

Evelyn couldn't be happier. Actually, she could, she thought, if a certain someone else was there, but she could call him later that night. Right now, she would be happy with Kurt.

Someone cleared their throat. "Tryin' to pass through here." A gruff voice said.

Evelyn looked up, a childish grin on her face. "Badger!"

Logan gruffed and crossed his arms. "It's Wolverine."

"Yeah, as I said, Badger." Evelyn got up and bounced over to him, wrapping her arms around his chest. She barely reached halfway around. "I've got great news! We can be best pals forever now! I'm moving in!"

A barely audible groan escaped Logan's lips, and Evelyn giggled. "Now run along and play, little Badger! We can talk more some other time!" she let got of him and jumped over to Kurt, who was trying very hard not to laugh. "Oh!" Evelyn exclaimed. "First, one thing! Pleease?"

"What?" Logan grunted, his expression unreadable.

"Say happy birthday!"

"Happy… Birthday?"

"Thank you! I'm eighteen today!"

"Wow," Logan said, sounding might unimpressed. "Whatever."

* * *

"Not the best of relations?" Eva asked quietly. 

"Oh, we did have the best. He was like a father to me. He led me down the aisle at my wedding. You should just know, it was-"

"Later, little one. Later. Now, continue where you were. Please."

* * *

"Good evening, everybody!" Evelyn exclaimed as she entered the kitchen. A few people were in there, eating dinner. Big Blue and Furry was one of them, as was Ororo and the guy with the glasses. Another young girl was sitting there as well, a pretty brunette (her hair looked to be almost the same shade as Remy's, only with two white streaks in the front). Next to her was a young guy, kind of geeky-looking in Evelyn's eyes. He had icy blue eyes. 

They all looked up at her; Hank smiled and said "Good evening," Ororo smiled and nodded, the dude with the glasses looked up and looked back down at his plate, and the girl and the boy looked at her curiously.

"Evelyn, this is Rogue," said Hank, and pointed to the girl. She smiled. "The young man next to her is Bobby Drake," Bobby nodded, seemingly failing in an act to seem cool, "And this here is Scott Summers." The dude with the glasses didn't look up this time.

Evelyn smiled. "And I'm Evelyn!" she said with a grin. She sat down in a chair next to Rogue, and looked for a while at the dude with the glasses. Scott.

"What are your powers then, Evelyn?" asked Bobby. He seemed genuinely interested. In something else then her powers.

"Well, except for my uncanny ability to look several years younger than I am," she said with a semi-smirk, "I control electricity. Can't you tell by the blue?"

"Cool!" Bobby said. "I'm Iceman." he held out his hand and Evelyn, reaching past Rogue who sort of pulled back slightly, she shook it. Then Bobby reached for an abandoned glass of water in front of her, and by touching the glass he froze the water. "Neat," Evelyn said with a smile.

"And you? What do you do?" Evelyn asked Rogue.

"Ah-I take other mutants powers and, um, stuff," she said quietly, her voice bearing a clear southern accent. The same sort of accent Evelyn herself had once adorned, but lost after her years with the circus.

"Hmm… Sounds… Possibly amusing?" Evelyn tried, but the look in Rogue's eyes told her it wasn't.

"And, mister anti-social over there?" Evelyn asked Bobby, who seemed much more keen on talking.

"Mr. Summers? He shoots lasers from his eyes. He can't control them, so he has to wear the glasses."

"They're ruby quartz," Rogue explained, her southern voice sounding like music in Evelyn's ears. A musical of memories. "They're the only thing that stop the laser."

Evelyn fell silent and studied the man with a pensive smile. Hank and Ororo were holding a conversation, and Bobby was whispering something to Rogue, but Evelyn was only vaguely aware of it.

"Scuuuse me, Mr. Summers, right?" Evelyn asked after a while, and Scott looked up from his plate and looked at her (or at least his glasses were facing her direction). "Hiya," she waved at him. He looked vaguely amused, or not.

"I was just wondering," she said with an innocent smile, the kind of innocent and curious smile you often see on inquisitive six-year-olds. "Do you sleep with the glasses on? 'Cause, Kurtsie's got the room like, a couple of rooms next to you, and, well, what if you wake up from a nightmare," her voice was on the edge of breaking from it's pensive, sober state. One could almost hear the giggles pushing through. "And sit up straight an open your eyes and, KABLOOOOOOM!" Evelyn jumped out of her chair and fell down on the floor, not on purpose but because she had gotten so excited.

With her, she had accidentally pulled down Rogue as well, and at that moment Hank, Ororo and Scott all three stood up and looked at the mess on the floor. Bobby was laughing, and Hank chuckled a little. Ororo looked slightly worried.

"Whoops?" Evelyn giggled, untangling herself from Rogue. "Sawry," she giggled even more. "I'm a bit clumsy."

"No worries," Rogue mumbled and got up. "I'll be leaving now. Night, all."

"Wait! Let me follow you!" Evelyn exclaimed, getting up. "Night!" she said to the rest. She didn't listen to who responded and who didn't, but hurried to catch up with Rogue.

"Hey," Evelyn said, walking alongside the other girl.

"Hi," Rogue whispered. Evelyn grinned. "One word through, many to go?"

Rogue simply shrugged.

"I like your hair," Evelyn tried. "It looks cool. And, I love your accent."

"I don't like neither," Rogue muttered.

"Why not?"

"Just because!"

"Your accent is like music to my southern-deprived ears!" Evelyn exclaimed cheerily. "My own accent seems to have disappeared, ya know? It's awful, I miss it terribly!"

"Are you mocking me?"

"No! I'm serious! As for your hair, I could do something about it, if you'd like me to."

"Perhaps. Well, this is my room. Good night."

With that, Rogue closed the door on Evelyn, who smiled, shrugged, and decided to go to sleep herself, in her brand new room.

* * *

The silence felt like it was pulling her apart. Evelyn rolled around a bit, trying to get the ringing silence out of her mind. 

She felt as though something was slipping away from her, still, and she still couldn't figure out what was wrong.

"The best way to get rid of the silence," Eva whispered in the darkness, "Is to talk."

* * *

"No… No…" 

Visions, images, dreams floated around inside her mind. A faceless monster, a dark shadow, chasing her, hunting her. She ran, she ran and she ran until she tripped, tripped on a rock that wasn't there before.

A lone butterfly flew past, and the monster snapped it up with its claw-like hands, the dark shadow crushing the butterfly.

Then it came for her, running straight at her, pushing her over an edge that wasn't there before. And as she fell, fell toward the rocky, dark nothingness, she saw them. The others. Dead, bloody, torn apart. Kurt, her mother, her father… And then, Remy.

With a gasp, Evelyn awoke.

Her blue eyes stared around her, she felt her forehead dazedly; she was bathing in her own sweat. The room felt unfamiliar and cold, where was she?

She remembered. The Xavier institute. Bedroom. Hers. There was no black shadow-monster.

She got up from the bed, the carpet soft against her bare feet. She wasn't sure what to do; she just wanted someone to be there. In a semi-dazed state, she walked out of the room, not even closing the door behind her, and walked straight across the hallway and into that room.

The room looked nearly identical to hers, the only difference being the placement of the furniture, which she had rearranged in her own room before falling asleep, and the fact that she didn't have clothes everywhere. This didn't matter to her; all she wanted was a body next to her own.

She heard someone breathing in the bed. She carefully walked over, her feet making no sound as she tried to avoid the pile of dirty laundry. She wasn't really awake, not really. Semi-sleepwalking. She sat down on the bed, listening to the breathing for a few moments, before she lay down and crawled up into a ball against this person's chest.

That was when she realized it was Logan she was lying against.

It didn't matter to her. She was frightened and barely awake, but his breaths were soothing to her. He grunted in his sleep, and jerked slightly. Either he was waking up or he was dreaming.

Evelyn didn't notice; she was already asleep again.

Moments later, Logan sat up straight, three metal claws sliding out of his knuckles. He looked around him, wildly, as though not sure of where he was. Then he noticed the small, silent form by his side and aimed to wake her up.

Evelyn was lightly asleep, her mind gently touched by dreams which threatened to fade to darkness and nightmares. She was walking on the edge of a cliff, and on one side, the side that was plain and leveled with her, there was green grass and lots of flowers in so may different colors they were impossible to count, and masses of butterflies spread their small wings everywhere among the apple trees.

On the other side, over the edge, was darkness beyond imagination, with dark shadows playing, luring, calling her name. A heavy wind blew, trying to push her over the edge. She fell down, down and down into nothingness…

Her eyes opened wide as she felt Logan rudely shaking her awake. Her eyes wide, she stared at the face above her, feeling her heart beat hard against her chest, trying to escape. She hated nightmares. Who didn't?

"What are you doing here!" Logan exclaimed, violently pushing her away. Evelyn stared at him, her wide eyes teary. She realized this at about the same time as Logan did, and quickly bowed her head to wipe the tears away. "You alright, kid?"

Evelyn nodded. "Yeah, yeah," she said quietly, looking up again with a slight smile on her lips. "Just… Sorry, I had… um… a nightmare." She added the last part very quietly, but Logan's heightened senses picked it up easily.

"A nightmare? Aren't you…"

"Yes, I'm eighteen. I just don't like sleeping alone, ok? And I get nightmares. Apparently, I also sleepwalk. I'm sorry…"

Logan put his arm around her shoulder, as they were both sitting up by now. "It's ok, kid. It was just a dream."

"I know… But it feels so real, every time."

Logan smiled kindly. "Sorry for being so rough there. I just wasn't prepared for waking up next to someone, ya know?"

Evelyn nodded and laughed a little. "Sorry for shocking you."

"It's ok. So, you gonna fall asleep again or…?"

"You mean I can stay?"

"Well, you did look awfully comfortable…"

Evelyn smiled and did something Logan did not expect; she pulled him into a tight embrace. "Thanks, Badger."

* * *

"Eva?" 

"Yes, Evelyn?"

"Can you read my mind?"

"Whatever makes you think that?"

Eva's tone of voice sounded final, and Evelyn decided to leave it alone. Just like she did with so much else about Eva.

* * *

"I love how I can do this, get lost in a corridor," Evelyn said out to no one in particular. She was standing in a long corridor, the walls seeming some kind of metal. She drew her hand against the wall, looking around her. She wasn't quite sure where she had come from, or where she was headed. 

She had lost herself in thoughts, thoughts about everyone in this mansion, only to open her eyes and see that she was in this corridor. And had no idea where to go now.

She looked around. There was a door in one end of the corridor, and, turning around, she saw another one. She spun around again, and saw the first door. They both looked exactly the same. Almost. Ishly. Evelyn stared from one to the other.

"Oh, you look pretty!" she exclaimed, taking a few steps toward one. Then she glanced at the other. "But so do you… You're both so shiny…" She bit her bottom lip lightly and turned from one door to another so it looked almost as though she was stuck in a glitch in a computer game. "Both so shiny…" she muttered under her breath, and then, she closed her eyes and spun around wildly. She crashed into a wall and fell to the floor, laughing at her own stupidity (you shouldn't spin in a corridor with you eyes closed when you know you have a tendency of crashing into things) and decided to walk toward the door she was facing.

The door slid open as she came within five feet from it. Evelyn squealed in delight, some distant part of her mind wondering when she would grow up, but the rest of Evelyn's mind formed a doggy-pile over that part so it would never be heard from again. At least not for a week.

The room she entered was a big laboratory, even bigger than the living room in her childhood home. And that was big. Very big. A lot of scary-looking equipment was placed neatly around the room, on shelves and those thingies on wheels that doctors had.

In a corner, there was a computer. A window was open and Evelyn, her curiosity never ceasing to take over, sat down in the large chair (ooh, soft) and looked at it.

It was a riddle.

"A man walks in to a bar and orders a glass of water. The bartender takes up a shotgun and aims it at him. The man says 'Thank you' and leaves. What happened?"

Evelyn giggled. "Ooh, I love riddles!"

"Really?" said a deep, friendly voice behind her. Evelyn spun in the chair and saw Big Blue and Furry, a.k.a. Hank McCoy, his arms crossed and an impish smile on his face. "I've been figuring on this one since last night and I can't seem to figure it out."

"Want help? I'm not smart or nothing, but I can try!"

Hank laughed. "Go ahead, miss Evelyn." While Evelyn spun back around and faced the screen, staring intently at it as though it would magically reveal to her the answer, Hank studied her. "I still don't know your last name."

"Dahl." Evelyn said dismissively, grinning at the riddle. "I've got it."

"You-what?" Hank asked, sounding shocked. "You've got it? Already? But, how?"

Evelyn giggled. "Are you sure you want me to tell you?" She put the chair into spinning so her blue curls flew around her and the lab became a blur.

"Let me think about that. Meanwhile, tell me more about yourself."

"Like what?"

"Well, where are you from?"

"New Orleans."

"Really? Couldn't have guessed." Hank grinned, showing gleaming fangs. Evelyn laughed.

"Naw, I've been in Europe for a number of years, so the accent kind of… Poofed. Disappeared. And you?"

"I'm from Illinois."

"Cute."

Evelyn stared at the large, furry man. She pulled up her legs and rested her chin on her right knee. Hank looked at her, his blue eyes full of warmth and kindness and a sort of spark.

"You have pretty eyes." Evelyn said, smiling, a light tinge of blue appearing on her pale cheeks.

"Thank you," Hank said, taken aback by the randomness of the compliment. He scratched his head with a large, furry hand. Evelyn was, for some odd and as per usual random unknown reason, fascinated. Then Hank commented, "You're staring."

"Do you want to know the answer?"

Hank nodded. "Yes, please, miss Evelyn."

"Just Evelyn. Or Evi."

"Miss Evelyn," Hank said again, accentuating the miss only to tease her. Evelyn pursed her lips, while at the same time smiling, and raised her eyebrows. "I ain't telling you if you'll be like that."

"Evelyn, do tell me the answer."

"You talk funnily."

"Why thank you."

* * *

"Hi Remy!" 

"Allo cherie. How are you?"

"I'm great. I get to stay here at the mansion, and, and Kurt is here!"

"I'm happy for you."

"You have no idea how nice it is to hear your beautiful voice. I miss you terribly."

"And I miss you, cherie. Remy does."

"Don't talk about yourself in third person. It's not good for your mental health."

"And Remy supposes you are the one to talk about mental health, cherie?"

"Maybe not, but still!"

"Ah, cherie. My poor, confused petite ange."

There was a slight pause.

"Where are you now?"

"In my car. Remember that one cherie?"

She could hear the smirk.

"No, I mean," she giggled, "Where are you? In the country?"

"Oui. Remy's in the country."

"Oh, stop it, you know what I mean!"

He chuckled and Evelyn wanted to melt. "Remy's on business, cherie. That's all. Now, tell me more about that place. Remy is… intrigued."


	10. Chapter 9

Whoop. In honor of me reaching half-way through writing chapter eleven, and me getting a job (yay -.-) I'm giving you all chapter nine! We're drawing closer. I've decided now, that there are only going to be twelve chapters. So I've got a chapter and a half left to write, and you guys have four, including this one, left to read.  
Plus the epilogue of course. Which I sorta am finished with, I'm just going to revise it and change a few things here and there, make it longer I think.

Well, enjoy, and it shouldn't be too long from now until you get chapter ten. As soon as I'm finished with chapter eleven, which I aim to be within this week, because I have easter holidays. Even though I'm working, I'll finish chapter eleven. And then chapter twelve should be finished before this month is over.  
Soon, my dear readers. Soon.

* * *

Weeks passed. Weeks that turned into months. Not that many. Evelyn quickly became part of the big family that was the Xavier Institute. She didn't take classes, but just waltzed around in the corridors without a real purpose.

One day in March, Evelyn and Rogue were in her room, joking around, as usual. Evelyn tilted her head to the side. The two had grown closer, become friends, although Evelyn sensed that the young girl was still feeling very lonely. She noticed Rogue's hair was looking a bit torn and weathered. Maybe it was time for a hair cut?

"Rogue," Evelyn said, thoughtfully, but with a smile on her lips. "Would you like a haircut? I remember, you said you didn't like it, so, maybe a haircut?"

Rogue laughed carefully, looking hesitant. "You know how ta cut hair?" she asked, her southern voice ringing like bells in Evelyn's ears. Evelyn nodded, but said "Nope. But it always turns out really interesting when I cut people's hair. Not so stiff and stuff like when you go to a hairdresser."

Rogue shrugged. "Ah suppose. Don't really have anythin' better…" Evelyn grinned widely and dragged out a chair, grabbing a scissor from Rogue's desk. "Sit down, sit down. This is gonna be fun. You've got so lovely hair. But I'm gonna have to cut a lot, it's a bit torn." Rogue didn't really have much of a choice. Not that she minded; a change was welcome.

Evelyn took the scissor and cut off a random lock of hair. She held it up in front of Rogue, who looked horrified at the length of it. Evelyn giggled. "This is the point of no return," she whispered and cut off another lock. More and more hair disappeared, and Evelyn refused to let Rogue look herself in the mirror. Evelyn cut the white shorter than the rest, like bangs, hanging unevenly in front of her eyes. A gloved hand worked its way up to the back of her head, where the hair hung to the nape of the neck.

"Oh mah lord…" Rouge whispered, trying to grasp the non-existent hair hanging on her back. "It's… short!" Evelyn nodded. "Well, I think you look great! I think I managed to do a good job this time, and maybe you won't complain like Kurt does. Just because I thought he would look good in a Mohawk when I was fifteen… I learn from my mistakes. Sometimes."

Evelyn brushed away some hairs. "Now look, look in the mirror and say what you think!" Rogue stood up and looked. Evelyn was pleased with the expression. "Mah lord," Rogue whispered again. "It's… lovely. Well, I suppose it does somethin' for the face as well, but… Yeah. Thanks, Evelyn." Rogue laughed and pulled Evelyn into a tight hug. The small creature grinned wide and tried her best to hug back. Being short has its drawbacks, admittedly.

"No probs, Rogue." Evelyn smiled. "Anything for a friend."

* * *

"Touching, my dear. But now, rush along; don't stop, because if you stop you always take such a dreadful long time to continue again. We don't have all the time in the world, although it might feel that way…"

* * *

"Allo?" 

"Hiiiya…"

"Evelyn! Comment Allez-vous?"

"Oh, I'm good, but I miss you like mad!"

He chuckled. "And I miss you, Ma chere. But whenever you miss me, hold the necklace tight and it's like, poof, I will be there. Non?"

Evelyn giggled. "But it's still not the same… I miss you."

"How are things at this mansion then?"

"They're great, me and Logan are getting along great, he seems a bit suspicious though…"

"How so, cheri?"

"Because, well, I might be acting a bit light-headed and giggly… Whenever I think of a certain someone… and I start blushing and stuff and he just… seems a bit murderous ya know?"

"Really?" his voice sounded so charming Evelyn wanted to melt. "And who be this special someone then, cheri?"

Evelyn grinned. "Well, stick around and maybe you'll find out…"

* * *

Rubbing her eyes, Laura rolled her head around before returning her gaze to the screen. VCR's should die, she concluded, because there was obviously something wrong with these tapes. Or maybe it was her VCR player that was broken. She'd seen a flicker of something again, but it wasn't there. There was no one else in there, no one but Evelyn Dahl. 

"I'm going paranoid," Laura muttered under her breath, and got up to get herself a cup of coffee.

* * *

"Computer simulation; Evelyn, complete. Beginning start-up process." 

Evelyn awed. "You're naming it all after little me?" She wrapped a curl of hair around her finger and smiled at Hank, who smiled back. "Why, yes, miss Evelyn," he grinned as she stuck out her tongue at the miss, "If you create a simulation, then of course it will be named likewise. You and Kurt worked hard on this one. Now, let's see how Logan does against it, shall we?"

Evelyn nodded vigorously, her curls flopping about. "Start it up, I've just got to put my hair up." She smiled and began the straining work of pushing her hair up into a ponytail. Meanwhile, the simulation began and through the cameras, Evelyn, who was too short to reach up to the windows, saw Logan studying his surroundings carefully. It was a meadow, full of flowers and butterflies and green, green grass. What Logan didn't know was that sword-fighting orcs would come up at any moment, and Logan would have to fight them with only his claws.

Sometimes, Hank and Kurt had concluded, Evelyn could be a bit morbid. There was just something about the happiness in her voice when she described the gruesome things the orcs could do to a person, if they were in the real world.

"Hey Sparky, didn't you say this thing was supposed to be difficult? Huh? It's just a whole bunch of butterflies, what're they gonna do, huh? Blow me away?" Logan's voice sounded through the speaker and Evelyn giggled. "Just wait, Logan," she said through the microphone. "Just wait and see."

Moments later, the meadow grew dark and out of the surrounding forest came about a hundred orcs, looking like they were just taken from the movie-version of Lord of the Rings. Gruesome sights, each an every one of them, with dark armors and large, dangerous swords, and all of them had a vicious look upon their faces, a sadistic, gleeful smile, because they were many and Logan was one.

Logan growled and got into fighting stance, extracting his adamantium claws. The orcs didn't seem phased by this, but rather, they seemed exhilarated.

Then the fighting began. Evelyn squealed in delight as Logan made the first move, chopping off the head of the orc closest to him. The others let out horrid battle shrieks and moved in as a solid unit. Logan fought well, chopping off limbs and stabbity-stabbing wherever he could. The orcs fought hard and brave, but Logan was stronger. Not that they were planning on giving up…

Suddenly, all the orcs froze. Logan growled, taking his moment to heal and wonder what the hell was going on. Then, a trumpet sounded, and the orcs fled in to the woods in utter chaos. Logan remained, laughed, spat out some blood, and jeered into the microphone. "You call this challenging, Sparky? This was nothing, I've been through worse against Bobby, so you know, you'd better…" he fell silent as all the butterflies returned. But now, they were darker, and in front of them, the butterflies began burning, crumpling to the ground with a horrible cry of agony.

"What's that suppose'ta be good for, huh?" Logan asked, turning away from the ashes of the butterflies. "Evi? Is this supposed to be a challenge?" Evelyn giggled. Behind Logan, the ashes of the butterflies rose, and together they all formed an enormous, black, gruesome, deformed butterfly. It flapped its newly created wings a few times, before hovering over Logan, who was still staring up into nothing.

Then the butterfly swooped down over him, and after hearing Logan scream, the simulation ended.

Evelyn peeked into the cameras, where Logan was lying face down. He groaned loudly and got up, wobbling a little. Then he laughed. "Sparky, you got me. You got me. Tricky little one, aren't cha? Now, let's do that again…"

* * *

He stared out the window. Four years now, to the day. Something inside of him couldn't help but breaking, and on this day, he couldn't help but let it out. He'd bought a blue rose, and right now, he was mindlessly picking the petals one by one. He watched them fall to the floor, in a small pile. He would burn them later, he decided. 

The door opened and light shone in from the corridor outside. He knew who it was, and right now, he really didn't feel for it. These were feeling he was supposed to have overcome, and he hadn't. He felt weak, ashamed, and now, exposed.

"What are you doing?" a deep, masculine voice asked, and he shrugged. He wasn't sure if his companion saw it, but he didn't say anything. His companion moved closer, and somewhere deep inside, he felt his heart break with every step. This was the man he was now supposed to care for, and yet, his mind was so trapped in the past.

As he felt his companion's hand on his shoulder, the gentle touch, saw the foot step over the petals, he smiled and cast away his thoughts. "Are you sitting here and moping?" his companion asked, an underlying laughter in his voice. His companion moved slightly and he stared at the petals, still smiling, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

He was supposed to be over this. It had been four years. Three years was a lot of time, more than enough. He felt a gentle kiss on his check. Turning his head slightly, he felt the other man's arms moving around him. As they embraced, as the night gathered up his thoughts, his soul wept for all that should have been.

And all that never seemed to be again.

* * *

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!" 

The words echoed throughout the main entrance when Logan entered. The voice was high-pitched and panicky, hurting Logan's sensitive ears. All he saw was a small, blue fuzz running around in a circle at a very high speed.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God…" the fuzz kept repeating. Logan sighed, but smiled, and stood in front of the blue fuzz. It bounced off of his chest and fell to the floor. Two big, electric blue eyes stared up at him.

"Evelyn, what's up?" Logan asked, raising an eyebrow. She stared at him, nearly teary-eyed.

"I haven't written my speech!" she whispered, sounding near terrified.

"What speech?"

"My wedding speech, of course!" she exclaimed, as though he was an idiot.

Logan stared at her. "Evelyn, you're not engaged. For crying out loud, you're not even dating anyone!"

"So?" Evelyn said with an innocent grin and an air of ignorant, childish innocence. "Besides, what do you know?"

"You're dating someone?" Logan growled, and Evelyn chewed nervously on the sleeve of Kurt's button-up shirt. She'd 'borrowed' it that morning when she'd been too tired to put on pants. Kurt's shirt reached to about mid-thigh on her. She had since then put on a pair of jeans though.

"Didn't say that," Evelyn mumbled, but the sudden grin on her face, combined with the blue tinge on her cheeks, told Logan different.

"What's his name, age, and current location? I need to smash his head in."

"Aw, Badger! Didn't know you'd grown so fond of me." Evelyn cooed, standing up. She wasn't tall enough to face Logan, but she straightened up to do her best. She liked being with Logan, because she could make him feel taller (he was the shortest man in the mansion) and because he was funny to watch when he got frustrated.

"Seriously, Evi. Who's this guy then?" Logan tried real hard to keep the hatred out of his voice, but Evelyn heard it there. It was, however, ignored to give place for the warm feeling she got inside, from thinking about Remy.

"Never you mind, Badger! He's a great guy, that's all you need to know. He's kind, and gentle, and ha makes me laugh, not to mention he's gorgeous, and -"

"What are ya, in love with the guy?"

Evelyn thought for a moment, and then blushed an even darker shade of blue. "Shut up!"

"Didn't say nothing."

"But you thought it!" Evelyn exclaimed and hid behind the sleeve. She peeked over the edge and saw Logan staring at her, so she hid again.

"Kid," Logan said, moved closer and poked her shoulder. "C'mon. Tell me."

Evelyn looked up at him and grinned. "You'll just have to wait and see!" and with those words, she ran up the stairs in a flurry of giggles and blue.

* * *

Another place. Another time, almost. Another man, staring at his cup of morning coffee. Mindlessly he stirs the coffee, wondering why he is thinking of her on this day of all days. Maybe it was the way the sun had shone in through his window this morning, it had reminded him of his younger days and reminded him of her. 

He had found that shirt though, the one she had borrowed from him, or rather stolen, maybe four years ago. It was lying in his closet this morning, for some strange reason it was on top of everything else. Immediately the image of her popped into his mind, and he couldn't get her away.

It had been over four years and yet he found that she was as fresh in his mind as the cup of coffee in front of him. It hurt, it hurt so much, everything about her hurt. How she would curl up in the middle of the night, how she'd stand on her tippy-toes to reach up and kiss him, or anyone else… How she'd hang on to his leg and not let go…

He struggled not to cry. He wasn't that kind of a person; bad things happen and they happen, all you can really do is…

Well… live?

* * *

"Evelyn! Why aren't you suited up?" Hank asked, and Evelyn shrugged. "Well, see, I don't like looking like a twelve-year-old. Which I would in one of those suits. Because, well, I have a tendency of looking like a twelve-year-old. So, I decided I'd just, wear this; besides, this seems more comfortable." Evelyn grinned. 

They were on their way somewhere to do something, and they flew in the big black plane the X-men ('cause that's what they were, the X-men) called the Blackbird. Ok, that wasn't very descriptive. They were on their way to some place where some dude was attacking. Yes, Evelyn had fallen asleep when they were discussing it. She really was a twelve-year-old; she had the mind of a twelve-year-old and she was stuck in the body of a twelve-year-old. Most of the time.

She had to remind herself that she was, actually, eighteen. Believe it or not. She didn't.

The more comfortable clothes she was wearing were actually gray sweatpants and a blue tee. She pulled her hair back and twisted it into an odd bun with a huge scrungie. To this, she was wearing a walked in pair of sneakers. All the others were wearing odd leather suits, something about team spirit.

"Alright, team," Storm said, smiling tensely, "We're almost there. So, I suggest you all get ready, because –" she couldn't finish her sentence because something hit the jet, and Evelyn, who had been looking out the window, saw a lot of fire.

Distracted, Evelyn didn't notice Cyclops landing the plane and everyone getting out. Not until Kurt bamfed in again to get her. "Sparky, zis is no time to play now. Can you be serious, liebe?" Evelyn nodded. "I'm not stupid, ya know, Kurt."

Kurt gave her a grin. "Nightcrawler. Zen hold on, Sparky, and I'll get you out zere, Ja?" Evelyn grabbed hold of Kurt, pulling him into a tight hug, and they teleported out.

The battle had already begun. Although they were outnumbered, the "bad guys" had one big advantage; they obviously weren't afraid of hurting people or the X-men. Evelyn studied closely. She only guessed who were the bad guys by who she hadn't seen with the X-men before. One guy was shooting fire out of his palms; it was looking very pretty, even if he singed Kurt's fur. Another guy was all shiny and threw stuff at Beast and Wolverine, or Hank and Logan, and he was very strong, because he picked up a car and threw it at the guys, although he didn't hit.

Then there was a girl in a red coat who seemed to do whatever she wanted. She made Cyclops' laser beam go toward Storm instead, although she flew away from it before it could hit her and she was kind of busy being chased by the laser beam since the girl in the coat was making sure the beam didn't stop.

High, high above all of them, was a man in a dorky looking helmet and a long cape; he was watching everything that happened.

Wind blew up around Evelyn, she frowned and spun around, looking carefully, and she saw it was someone running very, very quickly. Evelyn felt a push and she fell down to the ground, and the running stopped.

"Am I too fast for ya?" a boy in his mid teens said, smirking. "Maybe I should give you a chance too, huh? Are ya part of the X-geeks?" he was talking very quickly and Evelyn just smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I suppose I'm part of the X-geeks. Hi, I'm Evelyn, but they call me Sparky. What's your name?"

The boy rolled his eyes. "I'm Quicksilver. And I don't have time to stand around here. If you're part of the X-geeks," he ran over to the other side of her, "Then I'm supposed to fight you. Although you seem kinda weak. So maybe I'll let ya pass. What d'ya say about that, little girl?"

Evelyn thought. "Tell me, are you always this quick? Gee, then I feel sorry about your future girlfriends… I really do. And, I'm sorry about this too," Evelyn smiled widely and put down her hands to the ground, leading current through the air and in a wide circle around her. Even if Quicksilver decided to run, he would only have electricity to run into.

While Evelyn was busy giggling at Quicksilver's pain, someone took hold of her and dragged her away from the battle. Shocked, Evelyn let the electric layer around her body emit, and whoever had grabbed her dropped her, hard on the ground. The person who grabbed her landed some feet away.

Grumbling, Evelyn got an bolt of electricity in her hand, ready to throw it at her attacker. The attacker, a man wearing a long, brown trench coat, got ready too, crouched, kneeling on one knee, leaning on one hand for support and holding a glowing card, the Ace of Hearts, in the other.

"Cheri, please, I dun want ta hurt ya. Really. I just wanted ta take ya away from de battle, oui? I dun want ya to get hurt, cheri, please. Scarlet Witch be eyein' ya and Pyro too."

That voice. That accent. He looked up at her and Evelyn gasped, the electricity disappearing into her skin. It couldn't be. _It can't be, I don't want it to be. Please God tell me it isn't_ – but it was.

_Damnit._


	11. Chapter 10

Wow. Chapter ten guys. And girls. The one I struggled with for so long, the one I had you all waiting for. Well, you all had to wait for all the other chapters too, but only because I hadn't managed to write this one.

There's one chapter left to go for me, two for you all to read. Two left. It feels weird, or is that just me?  
Happy reading. And reviewing. It makes me happy. When I get five reviews for this chapter, I'll put up the next one. Just so you know. As a reminder that you should review. A lot. Because I like reviews.

And cookies. I like cookies a lot.  
And Remy. And Kurt. And... eh... just read.

* * *

"You're with the bad guy?!" Evelyn exclaimed, realizing she didn't even remember who the bad guy was. "You – you! And I trusted you!" She laughed and flipped back locks of hair that had fallen into her face.

Remy looked down to the ground. "Cherie, it's not like dat – yes, I be wid de Acolytes, but, ah, Ah didn' know nothin' else, I dun' know what to say, cheri…"

"I trusted you!" Evelyn kept laughing. "I trusted you with everything. All those things I said, about the people at the mansion, about my friends… You've betrayed me, you… you… There aren't words!" The electric bolt formed in her hand again, and Remy stood up.

"Cherie, please, dat be Gambit, not Remy, dere's such a huge difference, it's unexplainable…" he held the card up, still glowing. "Please dun make me throw it, ma cher, please."

Evelyn was still laughing. It seemed uncontrollable. It was so wonderfully hopeless and so obviously clear that of course, of course he had been on the wrong side all the time. Of course he had been telling that-evil-dude everything she had told him. It was so obvious and it was so desperately funny.

"I trusted you!" She raised her hands above her head and laughed close to insanely. "I trusted you! And you betrayed me just like others; you're just like everyone else! And, and, well!" She lowered her arms and stomped her foot to the ground, giving the appearance of an eight-year-old who isn't getting her will through. "I don't like it!" She exclaimed, more serious now.

Then she began laughing again and raised the bolt in one hand. Remy looked lost and very uncertain about what to do. He held the card, still glowing, firmly in his hand and was ready to throw it. Something gave way in Evelyn's mind, and even if she wasn't supposed to she hurled the bolt in Remy's direction. At the same moment, Remy threw the card, and quickly fired away two more cards.

When the cards and the bolt met in mid-air, they hit slightly off and the cards went flying toward a near-by building. They landed at the base and for a moment, Evelyn could see Remy's terrified face. Then, chaos broke lose.

There was a loud booming noise, followed by a deep rumbling. Evelyn thought it sounded like a scream of sorts, as the falling cry of a building who knew it was going to die. Then there was dust and overwhelming noises and for a moment it felt like Evelyn lost herself. She thought the building was going to crumble down on top of her and she would be lost and gone forever.

She stood still as some rubble fell down around her and she realized, as the dust settled slightly, that the building had fallen down at another angle. She looked around, slightly stunned, but couldn't see Remy anywhere. Or any of the others.

The effect was like pouring cold water over herself. She remembered that at that angle, that was where the others had been. She sprung to life, running through the fallen pieces of the now dead house, praying that the others were all right, that no one was hurt.

She stumbled on something soft and fell to the ground, scraping her hands. She looked and saw Remy, cold out on the ground. She assumed something had fallen and hit him on the head. Served him right, that bastard. She considered the possibility of dragging him with her, but he would be much too heavy. Sometimes, she hated being so small!

Evelyn got up again and ran toward where she had last seen her friends. She called out for them, but everything seemed so desolate. Parts of the fallen building lay everywhere and the dust was still heavy in the air.

Then she heard the comforting yet sudden 'bamf' sound, a sound which meant Kurt was nearby and she called out for him. "Kurt! Kurt!" Another 'bamf' sounded and the familiar, fuzzy blue appeared in front of her.

"Liebchen, you're supposed to call me Nightcrawler!" he scolded slightly, but there was relief written all over his face. "Sparky, ve zought… ach, never mind! Here you are!" Evelyn smiled. "Is everyone all right?" Kurt nodded. "Or, vell, ze one's on our side at least. I don't knov about ze bad guys. Except… vell, zose zings ve can talk about later, back at ze mansion, Ja?"

Evelyn nodded and Kurt made to hug her so they could 'bamf' away, but then she remembered. "Wait! I have someone who should… well, I think he should come with because… I, I think he might be hurt and stuff. Yeah?" she smiled and Kurt nodded, and she led the way back to where Remy was laying, still knocked out.

"Zat's Gambit, liebchen." Evelyn looked at her friend with big eyes. "But he's hurt!" She wasn't sure why she was convincing Kurt of bringing him, but she didn't want to leave him here, even if he had betrayed her. She shrugged off the bad thoughts, and waited as Kurt 'ported away with Remy.

Evelyn hummed a little bit, wondering why it took such time. Wondering why she had told Kurt to get Remy, why she wanted him with. She didn't want to leave him behind but she wanted nothing to do with him.

She wondered if anyone had been hurt, when the building collapsed. It had been a warehouse so there shouldn't have been anyone inside, but someone else, one of the bad guys or one of her friends. If any one had been hurt, she wasn't really sure what she would do. She would care for them, of course. She smiled, of course that was what she would do. And she would take care of Remy. But nothing more!

Nothing more, she smiled, twirling a lock of her wild hair as Kurt appeared in his usual cloud of dark smoke. He looked a bit tousled. "Sorry, liebe, but he voke up and I had to help ze others to restrain him."

Evelyn smiled. "Great. Just… let's get back home?" Kurt nodded and 'bamf'ed the two of them back to the Jet.

* * *

"Are you awake?" the soft whisper caressed the air, like a lover's touch. He froze, not realizing someone might have been awake. The tears trickled down his cheeks in silence as he held his breath, determined not to make a sound. 

He felt the bed move, heard the rustle of the covers. The soft steps on the floor, the steps of the loneliest girl in the world, walking out. He supposed she hadn't even noticed that she fell asleep, she did that a lot. She was always so exhausted and he just didn't have the heart to leave her or carry her to her own bed. So he let her fall asleep, let her sleep, and let her leave when she woke up. The loneliest girl in the world, leaving the loneliest man in the world alone.

The steps stopped by the door. "You sure you're not awake?" he wasn't sure her voice ever was this soft. Or at least he wasn't sure he had ever heard her voice this soft before. There was so much she never let anyone know. He bit his lip, in silence. The young girl sighed. "I'll just go to... I just… Try to sleep, I know you haven't."

The door opened, and closed. He sighed deeply, more tears spilling out of him. Why, why was this so difficult?

* * *

Humming gently on a lullaby her mother had sung to her once upon a time, Evelyn leaned back in her chair. She had been helping Hank write down some data, and was just finished. She liked sitting in this chair, because it was Hank's and therefore it was also much, much larger than an ordinary chair. 

She used her foot to push against the table on which the computer stood, and spun the chair around. "Wiiie!" she exclaimed, smiling, her curls swirling around her. Everything became slightly blurry, but in this blur, something was moving. That didn't seem like a good thing, seeing as how she had been told that the people down here were unconscious.

Stopping the chair by putting out her foot, which she soon realized was a very stupid idea after hitting her leg on the table and exclaimed "Owies!" loudly, she fell off the chair as she pulled her leg toward her and this time exclaimed "Ouch for foot's sake!"

Her curls spread out around her, her leg clutched up to her upper body, the world upside down, she saw a tall person moving just above her line of vision. She rolled over and leaned her elbows against the floor, her head on her hands. Her large, electric eyes met those red ones of the man who had finally awoken. He looked surprised and confused, and she couldn't help but smile.

"Hello there handsome," she said, biting her lower lip. He waved a little, looking around him suspiciously. "Hey dere," he whispered then, walking toward her with careful steps. She giggled and stood up. "What'cha looking after, huh?"

He glanced toward the door. "What be Remy doin' here?"

Evelyn tilted her head to the side, playing with her curls. "You were knocked out. Then you woke up. Then you were knocked out again. So, they brought you here. I personally wondered if they couldn't like, leave you and hope someone stepped on certain parts of you, but apparently the X-men are nice and forgiving. Hank told me so at least. And Kurt, I'm beginning to think he might be a pacifist."

Remy smiled, but he looked tense and very much so on his guard. Evelyn walked, or rather danced, up to him and hugged him. "I'm glad you're awake though. I missed you."

The body in her arms tensed, but she felt his arms around her body. "Cherie, I thought – Remy be meanin' dat, well, last time we saw you weren't exactly happy with me."

Evelyn smiled, breathing in the smell of Remy. "Don't be silly. Now let's not talk about that, it's all forgotten. Friends again?" Remy took half a step back and lifted her chin up. "Non, cherie. Not friends."

And so he lifted her up in his arms, and they kissed.

Seconds of eternity passed slowly, like a snail dragging an oak tree. Then Evelyn broke the kiss, giggling and Remy twirled her before putting her back down on the floor. Evelyn giggled madly, her cheeks burning blue. Remy looked at her with his trademark charming smile, his eyes burning into her soul.

Shaking her head so that her hair fell in front of her eyes, Evelyn smiled coyly and spun around herself once. Then she ushered Remy back to bed, because he shouldn't have left it in the first place.

"As you wish, cherie," was all he said and Evelyn wanted to swoon, especially as she watched him walk back to the bed, because the way he moved his hips reminded her of those few, heavenly nights they spent together.

Remy sat down on the bed, his hands behind his head and leaned against the wall. "So, are you goin' to be playin' de doc, petite?"

"Hush, you pervert!" Evelyn giggled, sitting down on the bed next to him. Then she leaned in close and whispered in his ear, "Hank might come in!"

* * *

Laura stared at the screen. This was all just very, very odd. More of those flashes had come, those that weren't there when she rewinded to see again. How could it be like that, with a tape? Perhaps she should have gotten the DVD-copies, after all, how much could a DVD player cost nowadays? Not too much she supposed, what with all the new technology. It was all so confusing. 

She sighed, glaring at the empty coffee cup, wanting it to magically refill itself. It wasn't going to happen, but maybe one day she would realize her incredible mutant ability to refill coffee.

It was all so fascinating. But before she continued, she needed more coffee.

* * *

With a giggle, Evelyn rolled over. The bright morning sun shone through the curtains, bathing the room in light. Evelyn smiled broadly, sitting up to stretch, and as she looked to the side her smile widened even more. There, naked except for the cover, lay Remy. Not just any Remy, her Remy. Her Remy, she grinned and lay down on top of him. There was no choice involved anymore; she'd kidnap him if she so had to. Kidnap him and tie him up to the wall and… 

She burst out in small fits of giggles as she thought about exactly what she would do to Remy in that situation. Then she got up, bringing the cover with her and sat down by the small desk. There, she began the messy job of untangling her hair, which ended up everywhere when she slept. Especially of she'd…

Again, she giggled and giggled more as the hairbrush got stuck in her hair. There was a rustling from the bed and a groan. "Good morning sleepy!" she said, smiling as she tried to get the brush lose.

"Mornin' cherie." Remy walked over to her, brushing her hair out of the way to kiss her neck. Evelyn giggled again, hitting him lightly with the brush. He took it from her, and started brushing her hair very gently. "You do have a lot'a hair, cherie. It be wonderful."

There was a knock on the door, and Evelyn spun around to see that Remy has put on boxers. Always something, because moments later the door opened, and Logan stood there, paper in his hands. "Sparkie, d'you know who's been cuttin' out the…" he looked up from the paper, his eyes wide.

"Cajun," he growled, baring his teeth. Evelyn smiled, rolling her eyes and stood up, cover wrapped around her. "Logan, if you don't mind we're having a bit -"

Logan interrupted her. "Yeah, well, I do mind. In fact, I mind a lot. Gumbo, outside. Now." Remy started for his clothes, but Evelyn stopped him by taking hold of his arm. "Logan, you're being ridiculous. If you have a problem, it's with me you should take it."

Logan stared at the two of them, seeming lost for a moment. Then he growled in frustration and slammed the door shut. Evelyn giggled, shaking her head. Then she turned around and hugged Remy, who put his arms around her in instinct.

"Cherie, should Remy - " She hushed him by tippy-toeing up toward him, so he had to bend down slightly and kiss her instead. "No, Remy shouldn't. The only thing Remy should do is stop talking about himself in third person. It's creepy." She smiled widely at him and winked, taking the cover with her over to the closet. "And, preferably, never ever get dressed."

* * *

"Eva?" 

The voice that answered was a whisper. "Yes, my dear?"

"How come… how come you never say anything? About yourself I mean?" Evelyn stared up at the ceiling, sensing the grey around coming closer as she uttered each word, threatening her. It was still there, even after all this time. Or maybe there hadn't been any time passing? Maybe she would wake up tomorrow and everything would be back to normal, and all of this would just have been a very, very bad dream. All of it.

"Because you know everything about me, Evelyn. Now, please…" Eva sounded impatient, but still Evelyn interrupted her.

"What do you mean, I know everything? I don't know anything about you, nothing at all!"

There was silence, and then Evelyn's head felt like it would explode. The feeling was overpowering, and Evelyn crawled together in fetal position, holding her head between her hands, her mouth formed in a soundless scream.

The grey, the grey was there all around her. Overwhelming her, pushing her into dark, dark corners of herself that she didn't want to visit. Images, memories, thoughts she didn't like.

"_Evelyn, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry but…"_

"No!" she screamed, "Please, please Eva I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Suddenly, everything stopped. A strong ache throbbed through her body, and every limb felt too tired to move. Yet she found the strength to sit up, leaned against her arms, as she felt Eva return.

She could feel the smile in the voice. "Evelyn, my sweet little darling. Continue instead. We are wasting time."

* * *

Evelyn smiled and stirred her cup of hot cocoa. "Logan, no matter what you say or think, I'm not gonna change my mind." 

Logan growled, glaring at the coffee in front of him. "Sparkie, c'mon kiddo. That Cajun is nothin' but a thievin', no-good, son-of-a-" Evelyn let out a squeal to cover up the word Logan used there, "stinkin' bastard who's just out after somethin' ta get in bed."

Evelyn sighed and rolled her eyes. "Logan, you just don't get it. He's a really nice guy, and he's put all of that behind him now! I don't care what you say. It's been three months since Remy came here and you haven't given him an honest chance, just chased him off like he was, I don't know, a terrorist or something!"

"Evelyn, he's a dangerous thief and nothin' better than it! I stick to it, darlin' he's no good for ya! He'll only hurt ya and I don't wanna see you hurt, can't you get that? You're worth so much more."

Evelyn smiled calmly. "He's a thief, yeah. He's stolen my heart away." Logan uttered something that sounded like a combination between a growl and a sigh. "No, Logan, you don't understand. I love him."

Logan looked like he wanted to slam his head in the table. "Ah, Ev. Yer young, c'mon, this is just some silly high-school like crush. It'll pass, you'll find someone better."

Evelyn didn't know what to say. It felt so ridiculous, everything Logan was saying. What did he mean! She loved Remy, and she loved Remy a lot. Why couldn't the others accept it? Hank had asked her about it, and even Scott had butted in.

"Logan, there's nothing you can say that will change my mind!" she said, smiling still.

* * *

Eva… What was she? It? What did she really want? Evelyn didn't know. It had been so long now, so long. She had long, long since lost track of time and Eva wouldn't tell her. She wasn't sure Eva knew either. 

Evelyn had no idea what had been going on outside in the world. She had no idea about the protesters that appeared outside the facilities every now and then, protesting to the extremely unfair method of keeping her. Isolation for years now. But there was no use. There were no laws for keeping mutants. The biggest spokesman for writing a law for this, these special cases who couldn't be kept in normal prisons, was Senator McKenzie.

There were techniques in the making, a form of power inhibitor, but no one could say with certainty that it would actually work for all mutants. The scientists said that there were some mutants, stronger than the average, whose powers might be able to override the system.

Senator McKenzie was also running for presidency again. Not surprising. 13 years after the tragic drowning accident that killed his daughter, McKenzie and his wife had gotten a second child. A son, whom they showed in the papers and McKenzie answered questions about how he was going to have time for both his family and his career.

His opponent was favored over him, but he wasn't worried. He knew that he had some things to pick up votes on. He was for the Mutant Registration Act and believed that more control was needed to ensure the safety of this country, and as he said in the papers, the safety of his son.

But for most people, life moved on. Not many really bothered remembering the young woman who had killed all those people, with a wave of the hand. And if they did, they shrugged and said something about how horrible it was.

Because, really, what else could you do?

* * *

One day, the rain was pouring down outside. Evelyn loved and despised these days. The rain was beautiful, but she couldn't go outside. Remy didn't let her; he said she could get sick. He was cute when he worried about her like that. But it made her day a bit boring, and the thought of going out and dancing in the rain was incredibly tempting. 

But, being a nice girl as she was, she settled in a window downstairs with a cup of hot cocoa in her hands. It was midday, lunch hour had just passed and the students were now in class, the teachers teaching. Remy was upstairs, reading a book or something, and Evelyn was here, sitting in the window staring at the rain. She wasn't fit to be a teacher really, and she didn't want to be either. She was glad that they let her stay here anyway.

The door bell rang. Funny little occurrence in the every day life, when there's someone at the door. A break from the ordinary rhythm of every day. Evelyn jumped down from the window, placing the cocoa on the sill. Who was out in this weather? Perhaps it was someone as crazy as her. That would be nice, maybe someone to convince her to come out, play in the rain.

She opened the door. A tall woman, drenched red hair, wearing an X-men suit stood there. She looked disoriented and confused, and a little scary. Evelyn looked up at her, smiling. "Hello, can I help you?"

"Scott…" the woman whispered, falling toward the frame of the door. Leaning heavily against it, she stared at Evelyn. "Who…" She seemed lost. "Where… ?"

"Let me help you," Evelyn said, moving closer. The woman looked frightened. "Please, don't worry. I live here, my name is Evelyn." The woman slid down along the frame of the door, staring emptily ahead of her. "Scott… ?" she whispered, and Evelyn kneeled down next to her. "You know Scott?" she asked gently.

The redhead nodded. Evelyn smiled a little. "He's here, just in class right now. Want me to go get him?" The woman nodded, and kept nodding, moving her head up and down. Evelyn had read somewhere that when you were insane you moved without any purpose. But she ignored that and ran up to fetch Scott.


	12. Chapter 11

Well. Chapter eleven. Heh. One more chapter to go after this. It hurts me to say good bye soon. But I won't rant about that, that's for the next chapter. :J

Anyway, I know I said I wouldn't put this up until five reviews, but I'm a sad and I write better if I have the pressure on me. Seeing as how I don't want to finish this off, I need a lot of said pressure. Anyway, I won't blabber for ever. Just read this shit already x3

* * *

Christmas was Evelyn's favorite time of the year. The lights, the presents, the music, the food and all of that candy! It was the only time of the year she allowed herself to really not care about being healthy, because she had always felt that the Christmas foods and candies were what made people feel guilty and give new years resolutions to lose weight.

This Christmas had been the first in many years where Evelyn had felt really at home. The circus had never celebrated Christmas, and even though she and Kurt had done a mini-Christmas just for the two of them, she remembered the way her and her mother had decorated the entire house when she was little.

This year, she had done exactly that. Kurt had helped her, and together they had barricaded themselves in his room and cut and pasted everything they had put up. Glitter everywhere and they had gone out and bought lights and just anything they could get their hands on.

It felt nice to have been able to do that, and now that Christmas was over, Evelyn looked happily upon tonight as the beginning of a new life. It was New Years Eve, and she was happy. Remy had surprised everyone by cooking and also by making drinks. A lot of students were gone over the holidays, but some had stayed too, the ones who didn't have a home to go back to anymore.

Evelyn was glad that they had somewhere to go, somewhere to stay. But that was not what she was supposed to be thinking of. It was so easy to get distracted while she was putting up her hair, because it was a tedious job and Evelyn didn't have much patience. A hairdresser's nightmare, she thought and giggled.

The dinner had been delicious, and Evelyn felt really proud that everyone had been complimenting Remy, and she saw that for once he didn't feel completely outside and distrusted.

Outside, the snow was falling. Evelyn felt happy, and as she finished rearranging her hair she headed back down, where Scott and Kurt were having a videogame tournament, some fighting game. She felt a hand on her waist and turned around, smiling. "Cherie," Remy said, grinning, handing her a glass.

Earlier, the entire table had been engrossed in discussion whether or not Evelyn should be allowed to have a glass of wine to the dinner. It had been amusing for Evelyn, who didn't even want a glass of wine, to listen to. It took them about fifteen minutes before they looked at Evelyn, who laughed at them and said it didn't matter.

"Come with me, cherie," Remy whispered, taking her hand and leading her into the kitchen. Everyone was out in the drawing room, waiting for the hour to come closer to midnight, when they would go outside and shoot rockets. Evelyn sipped from the glass Remy had handed her, and smiled. Mint julep, she had never had mint juleps before.

Her other hand was still holding Remy's, and she noticed he was shaking slightly. She looked at him and smiled, and he looked nervous.

"Evi," he whispered, glancing at the floor. Then he let go of her hand and lifted her up so she was sitting on the kitchen table. Evelyn took another few sips of the mint julep and smiled, waiting for Remy to say whatever was on his mind. He was really awful cute when he was nervous. But whatever did he have to be nervous about?

Remy cleared his throat. "Cherie. I know we haven't know each other for long, but I, I mean, I, well…" Evelyn giggled and drank more of the mint julep. "You're awful cute when you're nervous. Just tell me already!"

That was when she got it. The thought entered her mind as he moved down, on to the floor, so he was level with her legs. He was kneeling in front of her, looking up at her.

"Evelyn," he began, and she saw something sparkle in his hand. He didn't have time to say anything else, but she though she heard the beginning of "Will you," before she let out a loud scream and attacked him. Lying on the floor, she began wildly kissing him.

She broke away as others had gathered in the doorway, alarmed by her shout. Grinning madly, she whispered, "Yes."

As it dawned on the others what was going on, they clapped. They clapped a lot. Remy got hold of her hand and placed a sparkly silver ring on her finger, and they kissed again. They kissed long, and the others left and it wasn't until Logan came back in, growled something about it being time to go out and then left, that they stopped.

Smiling madly, Evelyn got up, taking Remy's hand in her own. Together they walked out, and once outside, he put his arms around her and held her close. Until Evelyn decided to run up and light a few rockets with her powers, which ended with Scott having to blast them because she forgot to place them so they would shoot upwards.

So they were happy that night. That night.

* * *

"Eva?"

"No, Evelyn. We are running out of time."

"What do you mean?"

"Evelyn, not this again. I told you. You will find out, in due time. In due time."

"It's like being eleven and hearing 'when you're older'!"

"Evelyn!" Eva sounded harsh. Evelyn curled up into a ball.

"I'm sorry, Eva. I'm sorry."

"Don't be, my dear. Just… keep on."

* * *

"Big blue furry?"

"Yes, Evelyn?" Hank chuckled at the sound of his nickname. Evelyn bounced all around him, smiling like mad as she usually did. "Could you tell me why it's been such a big deal with Jean and stuff?"

Personally, Evelyn had felt Jean was a bit stiff and stuck up. Logan kept looking at her, which annoyed Evelyn, a lot because Jean kept looking back and from what Evelyn had gather, Jean and Scott were engaged.

"Well, it's rather complex. Are you sure you can stay focused a while?" Evelyn shrugged. "Give it a shot."

"Well, about a year ago, not long before you came here, there was a man named Stryker who had found a way to get rid of all mutants. He almost succeeded too. Sent a sort of psychic signal all around the globe, focused on mutants. You may have felt it."

Evelyn nodded. "I was with Remy, and it was just lucky that we hadn't started driving yet. It felt like I was going to die."

Hank nodded. "Well, Magneto, the man we fought half a year ago, stopped this signal but turned it against humans instead. Kurt and Ororo managed to stop it, but the base of operations was in a dam and by then, a series of events had caused the dam to break. The x-men managed to return to the jet, but it wasn't working. And the dam was breaking, so Jean got off the plane and stopped the water with her telekinetic powers, at the same time as helping the jet lift. We all though she died that day.

"I came here soon after, to fill the empty position. Jean was the house doctor and she taught, so I took her place. But now she's back. Scott had cheered up incredibly, and I heard them whisper something about marriage."

Evelyn squealed. "I love weddings! I've been to a few, when I was younger, my parents knew a lot of people and weddings are just so beautiful!"

Hank smiled. "And not too long from now, I suppose you'll be attending your own."

She nodded, curls swishing all around her. "Very soon, I hope. But I don't know, I always wanted a winter wedding. We're talking about it. I have an idea, but I don't know if Remy is too hype on it."

"And what's that?" Hank smiled one of his good-natured smiles. Evelyn couldn't help but think how cute he was, and how sad it was that so few could look past his furry, blue appearance and see the warm and fuzzy Hank inside. She smiled, and sat down in his lap. Hank only smiled wider and put an arm around her.

"New years," Evelyn mumbled. "I'd like to get married on the stroke of midnight."

Hank chuckled and Evelyn cuddled up against his chest. Sometimes it was nice, being small.

* * *

"It's getting annoying. She's obviously not going to want to change the sentence, so why all this waiting?"

Laura sat quietly.

"They're just about killing me, these protestors. It's wrong, it's wrong, oh boo-freaking-hoo. Everything is wrong, but it's the law. I just don't get why we have to wait like this."

"Sir, it's not really anything I can do something about. I don't regulate how long time it takes before the sentence is completed."

Her boss growled. "Yeah, but I'm the one getting my ass eaten by those people!" He sighed and sat down in his chair again. "What I need to know, is if you and your client would be willing to let me take this higher up, see if I can speed things up a bit. From what I heard, your client's kind of out of it. That means you're the one who's in charge here, since she's got no relatives, or something like that."

Laura smiled tensely. "I suppose, for her sake as much as yours, sir, that you can do whatever you think is best."

He nodded. "Then we agree."

* * *

As summer came, so did the wedding bells. Scott and Jean got married, and not long at all after that they told everyone they were pregnant. Evelyn watched them silently now and then, and couldn't help but think about how much she wanted to be just like Jean. She wanted a family too. A big family, preferably tons of children, or at least seventeen. But she could settle for three, maybe four.

Remy and she stayed up, talking quietly about these things, in the warm nights. Time moved on, the days moved as they were supposed to. But once they had agreed to have their wedding on New Years, time seemed to slow down, moving at a painfully slow pace.

Evelyn sat up late, doodling and writing on papers everywhere, thinking about every single detail she could think of. Everything that could go wrong, that would go right. Once they were married, everything would be so perfect. Everything was so perfectly right.

And so, the heat vanished and finally came December. Evelyn didn't want formalities. Kurt was to be both best man and bride's maid, because Evelyn wanted him in a skirt. Kurt had laughed and agreed. There was no need for more. Logan was going to hand her over, and everything would be simple, and perfect.

All she hoped for now was snow.

And it came, as everyone was having fun waiting for the bell to ring. The priest was incredibly nice, chatting away with everyone, laughing at all who asked if he wanted a drink or anything.

Kurt talked to him a lot, and they seemed to get along, despite the fact the skirt and fuzzy blue skin. Evelyn laughed to herself.

Midnight drew closer, and then suddenly everything was over.

When she woke up the next day, she felt a bit bad for not remembering anything from her own wedding. Remy was next to her, and she had a blinding headache. Hangover. Maybe she'd had a little too much champagne, but it had been so delicious, and she hadn't even been able to taste the alcohol!

She sat up, smiled despite feeling sick, and looked on the night stand for a battery. None to be found. Great, she though, and got up, searching the desk. Nothing again. Perfect.

Maybe she should just take God's punishment on her for drinking too much on her wedding night. But it had been New Years too, so she forgave herself. Her memories would return.

She heard the covers rustling and moved back to the bed, wondering how long ago it had been since she had been this hung-over. Two years, if she remembered correctly, but then she had found a few batteries lying around, that night when she left Kurt alone in the church. Had it really been two years, almost two years since she met Remy for the first time, falling into his arms that foggy January night in Miami? Had it really been an entire year since they got engaged?

And had it really been last night that they said, 'til death do us part?

She grinned, her headache fading as her happiness returned. Here it was. She was married, and now the future she wanted, the future the both of them wanted, was close at hand. Children, a family, a real family, not one she would abandon like her parents had abandoned her.

The sound of someone moving around came again, and Evelyn returned to the bed. She crawled in close, close to her husband, loving every inch of skin that touched hers. This was right, and there was no other way.

* * *

"How long now?"

"I don't know, my dear. I don't know."

* * *

"Two veddings in less zen a year, vhat more could ve hope for in zis house really?" Kurt grinned and walked forward on his hands in a straight line. Evelyn was holding baby Isabelle, the daughter of Scott and Jean, who was only a month old. She was beautiful, with her mother's hair and what they assumed to be Scott's brown eyes.

"Well, another baby in less than a year maybe?" Evelyn laughed, wiping Isabelle's cheek clean of drool. The baby cooed and giggled, grabbing at Evelyn's curls but not getting a good grip.

Kurt jumped around a bit, and Evelyn watched him as Isabelle managed to get hold of her pinkie finger and began gnawing at it with her gums. Evelyn giggled and pulled away her hand. "You cutie you! Oh, how I can't wait to get one of these. A play-mate for Isabelle, maybe. Someone her age, someone of her generation, I mean, how many children out there have two mutant parents?"

"I don't knov, really." Kurt said, now hanging from his tail in a neat-by tree. "Perhaps you should ask ze professor for statistics." He studied her and the baby for a moment, then disappeared in a cloud of smoke and appeared in another cloud of smoke next to Evelyn and the baby, but not so close that Isabelle would get smoke on her.

Evelyn just smiled wider. "Aren't you a little cutie-pie, huh? Oh, you are going to be sooo beautiful, with those parent's of yours, huh? You're going to be so pretty and Remy's gonna have to help Scott in feuding off all those boys that are going to be drooling all over you, not to mention all those girls!" Isabelle giggled and blew bubbles of saliva.

"Why are they so pretty, Kurt? Babies, I mean." Kurt crouched down next to her and placed an arm around her shoulders. "Liebe, soon you vill hold your own in your arms just like zis. Soon."

Evelyn shook her head so the curls fell in front of her face, and Isabelle had the chance to try and grab some hair again. "I know. Soon. Very soon." Isabelle got hold of a handful of curls and put them in her mouth, just like she did with everything else.

"Taste good there, little one?" Isabelle squealed happily, and Evelyn looked up at the sky. "Time to move in, I think. C'mon."

* * *

_"It's been… so long."_

_"I know. It still hurts?"_

_"Do you still hurt?"_

_"I… yes. I do. I don't think I will ever stop hurting, really."_

_"You see it in… in her?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Does it hurt?"_

_"Sometimes. But most of the time… I'm just happy I still have something."_

_Silence._

_"I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"_

_"Never mind."_

* * *

Everyone was gone. Out somewhere, there hadn't been time to tell Evelyn where they were going, and they had decided she was better off staying home with the children. It was mid-October, the weather was getting chilly. Evelyn hoped they had brought something warm to wear.

She had done face-paints on some of the younger students, and a lot of attention had been placed on the one-and-a-half year old Isabelle, who had only just learnt to walk and was wobbling everywhere she shouldn't be.

But, around eight, Isabelle had fallen asleep on the couch, next to Evelyn and a few other children. They had been watching an old Disney movie, The Beauty and the Beast. Evelyn liked that one a lot. The Beast reminded her a bit of Hank, only with more of a temper. The ending disturbed her though, that he turned into a handsome prince. She thought the Beast was much more handsome than that prince.

She lifted Isabelle over her shoulder, and carried her upstairs. Just as she had put her down in the crib, she heard the jet return. She hurried down the stairs, telling the children to get ready for bed, and then down to the basement.

What met her was not as exciting as she had hoped. They were all incredibly sad and everything seemed so heavy. Remy saw her and managed a strained smile, but Scott got in the way of her field of vision. She looked up at him with big eyes.

"Where's Isabelle?" he asked quietly, looking incredibly tired. "She's upstairs, in her crib. She fell asleep when we were watching Beauty and the Beast," Evelyn answered in her cheery voice, but even she felt slightly subdued by the atmosphere.

Later, up in her own room, Remy told her what had happened. When Jean returned, she had been saved by a sort of force which called itself Phoenix. That same force had broken free recently and threatened to destroy all of mankind, and Phoenix was a dangerously powerful force. They had noticed, because she had annihilated an entire train station full of people in the blink of an eye. It was pure luck that made them all survive. But in the end, Jean had managed to break through, and begged for Scott to kill her.

Scott had obeyed that wish.

Evelyn crawled up and took Remy's head between her arms, placing it on her chest, holding him. He and Jean had talked a lot, and Evelyn knew he couldn't be feeling very good about all of this.

"It's ok, sweetie." She whispered. He laughed bitterly. "Sure, cherie, I'm ok. But what 'bout Scotty? He, he killed her. He really went and dun' it. He just… I don' believe it, ya know?"

Evelyn kept quiet and hugged Remy tighter. "I love you."

"Je t'aime aussi."

Not long after, Remy fell asleep, exhausted from the battle. But Evelyn couldn't sleep. She wriggled out of Remy's arms, careful not to wake him up, and went into the moonlit corridor. It had to be after eleven, and Evelyn strained her ears to listen. Silence overwhelmed her, but somewhere in the silence she heard quiet, tired sobs.

She threaded carefully with her bare feet on the carpeted floor, not wanting to disturb the silence. She held a lot of respect for silence, even though she couldn't handle it. She focused on the crying, walking closer and closer to Scott's room.

Just as she was about to knock, she heard a louder crying. Isabelle had woken up. Evelyn opened the door without knocking, she hardly ever did, but when she saw a bottle of wine on the table she was glad she hadn't.

She hurried to Isabelle, taking her out of the cradle. "Would you want me to take her tonight?" she asked in a hushed voice. "I'll go fix her some milk, too." There was no answer. "I'll take that as a yes. You just… sleep, Scott. Ok?" She moved over to the bed and placed Isabelle next to the tense, quiet figure in the bed. The baby fell silent for a moment, then squealed and tried to grab her father's hair.

Scott uttered a choked sob. "It's ok," Evelyn whispered, sitting down and hugging Scott.

"It's gonna be ok."

* * *

"Eva?"

"Yes…"

"Is… are things going to be ok?"

"Soon, my dear, very soon everything will be just… perfect."

* * *

"Hey, Scott. Are you, are you all right?"

Scot grunted for an answer, scanning the kitchen. Evelyn stood up, handing him a cup of freshly brewed coffee. "I made it, I just wanted the smell of it, while Remy's not here."

Scott smiled tensely. "Thanks." He made to turn around, but caught Evelyn's look. "What?"

"You can't barricade yourself forever, Scott. It's not good for you. It's not good for someone else either. A little someone who needs her daddy."

Scott sighed. "I- I don't expect you to understand, Evelyn. I really don't."

"Maybe I don't understand what you're going through, but you can't be this selfish! Think about Isabelle. Isn't it enough that she has to live without her mother, but does she have to live without her dad as well? Especially when he's perfectly healthy and alive!"

Scott slammed down the cup, hot coffee flying everywhere. "I don't expect you, of all people, to understand, Evelyn. Not everyone can be like you, you know. Normal people have feelings."

Then he left, and Evelyn stared after him. "What do you mean?" she called out, but he had already gone out of hearing range. Evelyn took out a rag and cleaned up the coffee, but she couldn't help but wonder. What did he mean?


	13. The final

Wow. First of all, there won't be an epilogue as I first planned, but this is it. This is it. With this chapter, I finally end this Evelyn-era. Two years, almost exactly, it's been since I first wrote about the girl on the train station. She's developed a lot since, and I've loved and hated her deeply, I've cried and I've laughed at her, I've wanted to throw my computer in the wall because of her, I've wanted to kill various characters (none to be mentioned by name (I'm not talking about Laura, never...)) and it's just been a lot.

It's meant a lot to me, and it probably will for a long time. All of your comments have meant a lot to me as well. I just... It feels strange that's all.

Before I let you go to this last chapter, I have to thank people. I've gotten, as of the moment of writing this, 52 reviews. Which is more than I had ever hoped for. I'm on tons of favorit lists, favorite authors, author and story alerts. Many, many more than I'd dreamed of, even. You guys have really helped me get back my belief in my own writing.

First of all, I'd like to thank the always so lovely Zoftis and Koski-chan (who needs to finish that chapter, biatch!) for being my friends.Then, namedropping!

From the start it was Maid of the Mer, glennscm, Certh and talksome.jive

Then, around chapter 5, came Twilight L. Xari, who's been my loyal day brightener since, and I've known I've always had something to look forward to when publishing a new chapter.  
Then IsilwenSilme, who also brightened my days a lot :)

Honorable mention to SecondRate, whose comment on chapter 6(7) made me laugh out loud.  
Then came -zi-tok-, who also helped brighten my day.

I love you all. In a distorted, psychotic sort of way. Notice the extremely open ending. I am easily convinced.

Anyways, I've been dragging this out way too long. Have fun reading this.

I had fun writing at least.

I'm feeling a bit disappointed with this chapter, to be honest. But I don't know what's wrong, so I'm letting it go off like this or else I'll never be finished.  
I also have a question. I have to stories in mind, after this one. One is linked to this, and is more about the mansion at the time Evelyn is locked up. Or rather, a young girl who happens to arrive at the mansion only months after Evelyn is locked up.  
The other is a totally unrelated fanfiction, still X-men though, but I think it has a brilliant plotline, seeing as how I've been working on it in my mind for about four years by now. Five, even. Wow. I'm geeky.  
Also, note the open ending. Hint hint nudge nudge. I am easily convinced, as I wrote earlier. Although the first one I described has a bit to do with what I'm hint, hint, nudge, nudging at.

I've been babbling for far too long.

Hugs and cookies to everyone!

P.S, if I don't answer reviews in a while, it's because bad stuff has happened. But I promise I'll try.

And of course, HUGE thanks to my beloved, beautiful boyfriend Charlie, who's supported me from the start with this shit. He's the one I forced to work on dialogue and scenarios together. Thank you!

* * *

"Out of my way, little one! I have something very, very, very important to do here!" The almost three-year-old Isabelle wobbled in front of Evelyn, who tried desperately to run around the little doll. But it was impossible to get away from the energetic bundle of joy when she wanted attention. 

"Ev!" she said, clapping her hands. "Ev!" Evelyn smiled and crouched down, rubbing Isabelle's cheek. "You're incredibly sweet, Ish, but I really need to get past here."

"Ev!" the three-year old said stubbornly, pointing to the pillow fort she had built in the middle of the corridor. Probably with her father's pillows. "It's really pretty, Ish. I'll play with you in a while, ok?"

Isabelle stared at her with big, brown eyes. "Promise?"

Evelyn nodded. "Promise."

The child clapped her hands again and giggled, then walked over to her fort and crawled in under it. Evelyn giggled, then remembered what she had to do and sprinted to her own room.

"Remy!" she cried out, jumping up and down madly. "Remy, oh you won't believe it!"

Remy looked up from the book he was reading. "What be dat, cherie?"

She crawled up to where he was lying in the bed, and whispered it in his ear. "I'm pregnant."

The look on his face was pure shock, and Evelyn wasn't surprised. They had been trying for two years, and now it finally had happened.

"Cherie, it – you be sure?" She nodded vigorously, her curls flying everywhere. "Real sure?" then a smile crawled onto his lips, and he threw away the book and pulled her close. "We're gonna have a baby?"

"Mhm. We're gonna have a baby."

* * *

Winter turns to spring, spring to summer and summer to fall. As such is the life cycle of the year, as such is the cycle in which everything lives and dies. 

A life; a life lives for more than the cycle of the year. Yet as a life passes, it passes through many winters, and many summers, and many summers in the middle of the winter. Everything moves, events unfold and whatever happens, happens and cannot be undone.

Once something happens, it is there, it is fact, and the consequences, unavoidable.

Life is fragile. It can be shattered in a few days, in a few hours, in a few moments. All you need is that one thing, one word, one sign, one accident, and everything is ruined. Even the one most full of life, can shatter and fall into the ruins of despair. Hopelessness, emptiness, loneliness, all these feelings are part of humanity.

And nothing hurts more, then losing everything.

* * *

"Evelyn?" 

She tried using the darkness around her to suppress all sounds, but couldn't help but listening anyway.

"She hasn't come out of there yet?"

"No. It's been zree days."

Logan and Kurt. They were worried about her. Go worry about someone else, she wanted to scream, but couldn't find the strength. She didn't want their worry. She didn't want anything at all, because if she had nothing at all, she wouldn't exist.

Three days, three days since everything broke. She had always believed she could make it through anything, anything life would throw at her she had always taken with a smile and a wink. But now something, someone, decided to spit her in the face.

She had always believed life was beautiful, and always believed that everything would solve if you would only smile and feel the smile warm you up. But now she couldn't find the strength to move at all, let alone smile. Everything felt empty and cold. Everything had gone wrong.

It was her fault, and she knew it. That was the worst part, that she had ruined not only her own dreams, but someone else's, because of something she had always been so proud of.

She had killed her own child.

Three days ago, she had miscarried. Hank had whispered something to Remy when he thought she wasn't listening about the electrical currents that ran through her body. And she knew, she knew it was all her fault. It was her powers that had ruined everything.

For the first time in her life, she wished she was normal, like everyone else.

* * *

"I feel… weak." 

"That's all right my dear. It's to be expected. You have been in here for a long time."

"A long time.. how long, Eva?"

"Longer than you would think my dear."

"How long, Eva?"

"What does it matter? It's not like you are getting out of here anyway. You will be trapped forever."

"That's not true, they're going to take me away sometime and finish all of this."

Evelyn though she heard Eva chuckle in the darkness.

"In one way or the other, you will be trapped, Evelyn."

* * *

"Cherie, please, come out of dere. Dis be hard enough as it is." 

"Do it yourself. I don't want to."

"Dun be childish, cherie. It'll be only us, please."

Evelyn curled up tight. No, no, no and no. Her answer wasn't going to change just because he was persistent. If we pretend it never happened, then it never happened. Right?

"I don't want to."

"Cherie, you have to. It's not good for ya, t'be closin' in like dis. I- I be needin' you. Don't you understand what you be doin, to me, to all of us?"

Evelyn was quiet, but curled herself tighter under the covers. As long as he didn't say it, it didn't exist. As long as no one said it straight out, it had never happened.

"I can't do this alone, Evi. I can't do this alone. I need you." His voice was pleading, and her insides squirmed. She didn't want to do this at all. It was too much, too much.

She heard him sigh. "Cherie, for fuck's sake! This is our son we be talkin' bout here!"

Everything seemed to break all over again. "No," she whispered. "Don't talk like that."

"Evelyn! Listen to me!" He sat down next to her and pulled her out of the covers, holding her firmly. "It's been almost a month, I've been pushin' it off dis much. It has to be done! We have to do it. Don't make me do it alone. You'll regret it."

Evelyn closed her eyes, as she felt every shattered piece shatter again into millions of pieces. "We have to do it, cherie," Remy's voice was soft and thick, about to break. She wondered if he was breaking like she was. "Evi, we have to bury de ashes."

"Shut up," she whispered, but didn't move. "Shut up."

Remy sighed and got up. His shoulders were slouched, and he wasn't standing straight. He looked very old, and very tired.

"Well, come or dun come. Tomorrow mornin' I'm doin' it. You know where, and you know when."

Then he left, and the silence froze her back in place. She couldn't do this.

She got up, pulled on decent clothes, and left.

* * *

A small snowball can cause the avalanche. 

What can one do to stop the avalanche, once it has been started?

What can one do to stop the ruin of life?

You can't do anything at all.

You can only run.

* * *

What happens inside someone when they snap? When something destroys someone so completely that there's nothing else? 

The mind goes blank, like an empty canvas. Susceptible to most anything, blindly naïve.

Evelyn didn't know how long she had been driving. She didn't know where she was heading. She had watched Remy from a distance, as he carefully and lovingly had lowered the box of ashes into the ground. She hadn't found the power within her to go to him, to join him.

She had watched as the tears had fallen down his cheeks, in silence. Both of them in silence. How do you bury a life that never got to live?

She didn't know how long she had been driving, and she didn't know where she was going.

For a moment, she closed her eyes, and felt something urging her to pull over. She did. She stepped out of the car and walked into the forest next to the road. It was getting dark out, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered except for this, only she wasn't sure what this was.

She just kept on walking, further and further in.

Until she stopped. She stood still a while, closed her eyes, and then opened them again.

And there she was.

"Hello, my dear."

* * *

One, two three. 

Always look before you leap.  
And pray that everything will turn out okay in the end.

* * *

"C'mon. Don't waste more time." 

Days had become months, months had become years. The girl had grown, changed into a woman. The dark room had changed her. The loneliness had changed her.

The straitjacket was the smallest they had, yet still too big. She was nothing but skin and bones anymore. The curly ringlets were not brushed, the ebony color of them making her skin look paler. The pale blue had left her cheeks and left was a near white color. Her lips were pale pink and her icy blue eyes stared down at the floor she was walking on.

She smiled. She smiled and began laughing. She laughed; laughed and kept on walking, laughed so much she had trouble breathing.

A poke in the back from a stick one of the guards calmed her down.

They walked into the room, placed her in the chair. She began laughing again. The tension in the room was nearly visible. She kept laughing as they strapped her arms and legs to the chair. They were still afraid of her, despite her hazard appearance, despite her weakness.

She fell silent when they put the helmet on her head. Now she needed to focus. She needed to concentrate.

All words spoken were lost in the roar of every breath inside the woman's head. Every breath that could be her last. Breathe, focus, breathe, not just yet.

_Wakey, wakey, little Evelyn._

_Not yet, I'm tired…_

_Perfect._

The woman smirked at all the people around her as the first charge came.

Everything went so quickly after that.

The first charge of electricity came, and she grasped on to that, feeding off of the energy. The straps burnt off, and she stood up, staring at everyone. They stared back at her, in awe, and she saw someone make for a phone. In an instant, that person was lying on the floor, dead.

The screams, oh the screams, they filled her heart with joy. She filled the air with heavy static, and the bodies fell one after the other. The lights flickered off, and the room was filled by the bitter smell of burning flesh. The cameras went next; she blew them up by overcharging.

Woman and girl were one now. Not for long, but there was one last thing she needed the girl for.

"Hello, Laura." Her voice was deep and womanly, soft and mature, yet so cold. Laura stared at her. What she saw was the girl.

"Evelyn?" she asked, her gun drawn. The woman laughed. She laughed and took out the assistant next to Laura with a strong bolt of electricity, and the others in the adjacent room as well. Then she turned to Laura.

"Oh, Laura. Sweet, innocent Laura. I'm not Evelyn. Haven't you figured it out? The tapes, the conversations? No, Laura. Evelyn is gone."

"You're -" But Laura's words were never able to come out. They were caught in her throat as the woman charged the whole room.

Seconds later, Laura lay dead on the floor.

The woman bent down and laughed, pushing the girl away again, for good. Her hair turned black, her skin pale, her lips pink and her eyes ice blue. Her features hardened, grew slightly older, mature, but still reminded of the soft ones of her previous owner.

"No, Laura, I'm not Evelyn." She whispered and stood up again. She had Laura's keys and money. She was sure the girl's items were locked up somewhere, and she'd find them.

"I'm not Evelyn." She whispered again. She walked out of the room, but turned around in the doorway to look at what they had done together.

"I'm not Evelyn, not anymore." She whispered with a smile.

She began walking away. She wasn't sure to where, but there were a lot of things she wanted to do.

Good night, sweet Evelyn. Sleep well, for you will sleep for long. Hope you're comfortable. You aren't in control anymore.

And indeed, Evelyn, the girl, wasn't in control anymore. Evelyn barely existed.

It was Evelyn no more.

Now,

It was Eva.


End file.
